The protagonist of this book is at the age when I think a person is forced to choose their identity and
therefore comes face to face with the many aspects of freedom, such as:
Freedom of speech: In this particular example Holden witnesses how the school/teachers restrict this
freedom, children would not be allowed so much as to digress from a given topic. Other than that
Holden would be reprimanded for swearing too much. It is considered necessary for ‘adults’ to give
children certain guidelines on how to speak in various social situations, with different people, but to
what extend is it acceptable?
The topic of religion is frequent in the book as well. Since Holden considers himself to be, most of the
time, an atheist, or at least has a different attitude towards Christianity, which would often be
frowned upon, his religious freedom is also restricted (maybe, as it usually is in the case of children,
by the parents or peers).
Holden himself views adulthood as something that restricts a person even more, but if I think about
it a child is as restricted as an adult, e.g., they too must conform to the standard way of life: go to
school, they are dependent on money…