Growing up is something that every person must go through. New responsibilities
and challenges will occur along the way. In J.D Salinger’s book, The Catcher in The Rye,
the reader is introduced to a boy named Holden. Holden is facing the challenges in
changing from a child to an adult. In Holden’s eyes, childhood is a life full of innocence,
curiosity, and honesty. He enjoys the simplicity in childhood. His view towards
adulthood is a world of superficiality and hypocrisy, which he sums up as “phoniness”.
Nothings reveal his views better then when he explains his dream to be the “Catcher in
the Rye”. He pictures a world of children playing in a large field of rye overlooking a
cliff. Holden wants to be the person who catches the kids when they get to close to the
edge. This dream of his sums up his views quite clearly and give the reader the sense of
what Holden is feeling emotionally. Holden’s refusal to change from childhood to
adulthood, made his life more difficult and evidentially led to his tragic fall.
Holden views childhood as a world full of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. He
reveals to the reader throughout the book that he wants to stay in this world forever. In
his idea of being “the catcher in the rye”, Holden pictures childhood as a field of rye with
children playing in the vast grassland without any worry. He appreciates the simplicity
childhood embodies. He exposes his desire to stay in childhood many different ways
throughout the book. One way the reader can observe Holden’s desire for simplicity is
when he visits the Museum of Natural History. While appreciating all of the artwork
Holden states, “ Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to
stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that’s
impossible, but it’s too bad.” (122) This quote explains Holden’s appreciation of how the
art in the glass boxes never change. It exposes Holden’s desire to never change also.
Holden wants to be just like the art pieces. He wants to stay the same forever. He also
talks about how he is mad that he has changed every time he visits the museum but the art
pieces do not. Holden is upset he is growing up and he knows there is nothing he can do
about it.
Another big theme of Holden’s childhood is his immaturity. He demonstrates his
immaturity many times throughout the novel. In an article named “to tell you the truth”,
the author states, “Holden refuses to reread as he perceives reality readily, seeing only the
surface differences between people, not the underlying differences within each person”
(To Tell You the Truth …,). This quote explains how Holden judges people right from
what he sees and does not get to know a person. This shows Holden’s immaturity as a
character and how he does not make an effort to dive into a person’s personality. This
causes a lot of problems for Holden because he seems to hate everyone that he gets a first
impression of. If he somehow found that one person he could rely on then maybe he
would have been able to go to someone when he had his issues.
Holden’s main symbol of childhood is Phoebe. Holden wants phoebe to stay in
childhood forever. He wants her to stay away from all the “phoniness” in the world. His
main goal is to keep her protected. When Holden spots an “FU” sign written on a wall, he
becomes enraged. He wished he could erase all of the “FU” signs in the world but he
knows it is impossible to do. This shows how Holden cares for Phoebe, and all other
children, to stay pure forever. He wants to be the one who can get rid of the phoniness in
the world.
Holden views adulthood as a world full of world of superficiality and hypocrisy.
In his catcher in the rye belief, adulthood is what is lying over the cliff. He feels it is a
terrible world that no one should have to enter. Holden sees adulthood as a phony world.
Phoniness is one of Holden’s favorite concepts. It is his way of summing up the
superficiality, hypocrisy, and shallowness that he feels adulthood is all about. Phoniness,
for Holden, stands as a symbol of everything that’s wrong in the world. There are many
characters in the book that Holden see as phony. Sally Hayes, Carl Luce, Maurice,
Sunny, and even Mr. Spencer are main examples. All of them are people that Holden do
not want to be like, even though they aren’t terrible people. Again we see how Holden
judges people without getting to know them. This habit of his will evidentially cause his
downfall because he has no one he can trust
Another theme of adulthood to Holden is sex and relationships. Holden reveals to
us that he is confused about relationships when he states, “Sex is something I really don't
understand too hot.” This quote is showing us that he does not really understand yet how
to be in a relationship. Relationships are probably hard for him to understand because it
consists of all of the things he fears in complexity, unpredictability, and a chance or
conflict. Holden has showed us that he likes things to stay simple. He does not want to
cause any difficulty for himself. Although he is in some relationships in the story, he
seems to always screw them up.
Holden refuses change from childhood to adulthood. In his catcher in the rye
belief, he is the person at the edge of the cliff, catching the children if they almost fall
over. He is not only refusing to change, but he wants all others to do the same as him. He
feels that his idea of staying in childhood is the right thing to do. He is trying to ignore
adulthood as much as possible.
Holden is confused about what he wants to be in life. One article from the
Washington Post states, “ Holden is a rebel and all that—“the most terrific liar you ever
saw in your life,” “probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw”—but he’s a softy at
heart. He’s always pitying people—“ I felt sorry as hell for him, all of a sudden,” “You
has to feel a little sorry for the crazy sonuvabitch,” “Real ugly girls have it tough. I feel
so sorry for them sometimes”.”( Yardley) This quote shows how although Holden claims
he is a rebel and a tough guy, but he is actually a kind hearted person by some things he
says. This shows how Holden does not fully understand himself and usually contradicts
himself. It shows how Holden is confused about what he is in life. He doesn’t know if he
wants to be a rebel tough guy or a nice and kind person.
One event that sent Holden straight into adulthood was the death of his brother
Allie. It was the first time that Holden had faced a tough situation in his life. After Allie’s
death, Holden had no one to talk to about it. Allie’s death occurred in the story many
times during the novel. Most notably when times are tough for Holden. One writer says
that, “It looks like Holden turns to his brother when times are worst. Allie ends up being
a red flag for us, the reader, to know when things are bad for Holden.” (Bowden) This
shows that Holden’s only person that he can go to in a bad time is someone who is not
alive anymore. Allie is the only one that makes Holden feel safe. That is why Holden
caries his baseball mitt around with him.
Holden’s hypocrisy also makes it hard for him to change. Although the fact
holden hates the concept of phoniness, he s guilty of being a phony as well. One article
claims, "Holden is himself a phony. He is an inveterate liar; he frequently masquerades as
someone he is not; he fulminates against foibles of which he himself is guilty; he
frequently vents his spleen about his friends, despite the fact that he seems too be
advocating the need for charity"( Cardiosk). This quote claims that Holden himself is a
phony just like all other people he meets. He is not as pure as anyone else. For example,
when Holden sees an FU sign written on the wall, he becomes enraged that it is out in the
open for children to see. Holden is being hypocritical because he uses curse words in his
everyday language. He is even asked by his 10-year-old sister Phoebe to not curse in
front of her. Holden does not realize that he is as much as a phony as any other adult he
has met. This makes it even harder for him to change because he cannot accept the fact he
already is what he is trying not to be.
At the end of the story we start to see Holden finally accepting his change. One
analyzer points out, “When Holden watchers Phoebe ride the Central Park carousel in the
rain, his illusion of protecting the innocence is symbolically shattered. Critics regard this
episode as Holden’s transition into adulthood, for although the future is uncertain, he
severed ties with the dead past have enabled him to accept maturity”(Lamazoff). While
Holden is watching his little sister Phoebe, who he loves, ride the carousel, we see
Holden is beginning to change. He says that at some point, he needs to let kids be kids
and not stop them. This is completely different from when he said he wanted to be the
catcher in the rye. This marks the point in which Holden finally realizes that he cannot
hold on to childhood forever and that he needed to let go.
Holden’s change into adulthood was not easy. He struggled with letting go the
innocence of childhood and accepting the responsibilities that adulthood comes with. At
the end of the story, we find that Holden is in a rest room. This marks the start of
Holden’s recovery from all of the mental stress he endured from his change into
adulthood. Holden must now start his journey on becoming an adult.
Works Cited
Bowden, Lawrence. "The Ducks in Central Park, or Why You Can’t Teach The Catcher
in the Rye." American Popular Culture. Oct. 2002. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/bestsellers/catcher.htm>.
Cardiosk, Michael. "The Catcher in the Rye: Holden Caulfield Character Analysis."
Associated Content - Associatedcontent.com. 09 Apr. 2010. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1621225/the_catcher_in_the_rye_hold
en_caulfield.html>.
Lamazoff, Eric. "The Praises and Criticisms of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye."
LEVITY. 1996. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.levity.com/corduroy/salinger1.htm>.
Mitchell, Susan K “To Tell You the Truth …,’.” CLA Journal 36.2 (Dec. 1992): 145156. Rpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jefery W. Hunter. Vol. 138.
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Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.
Yardley, Jonathan. "J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly
(washingtonpost.com)." Washingtonpost.com - Nation, World, Technology and
Washington Area News and Headlines. 19 Oct. 2004. Web. 02 June 2010.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43680-2004Oct18.html>.