The Catcher In The Rye
Help! Holding his stomach to stop the bleeding, Holden limps from the bar to the phone booth. Believe it or not Holden as drunk as a bird and this is just his imagination running wild, playing childish like games. Being sixteen years old and out in the big city on his own, Holden does not know weather to grow up or be a kid. In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a sixteen year old boy named Holden is tossed between two worlds, being a kid or growing up and taking responsibility like an adult. By analyzing the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, one can see that the author uses maturity, immaturity, and adult situations to reveal the theme of growing up.
Holden can be very immature and irresponsible. For example, when he flunks out of Pencey, or forgets the fencing teams equipment. I think Holden has all of his priorities all messed up. “I had to take some Oral Expression class, that I flunked.” (Holden Pg. 182) Its obvious that Holden doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. Right now he is going know where, not doing well in school is putting him into a bad position in his life, which shows a lot of immaturity. “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (Holden Pg. 16) I think lying is one of the most immature things you can do. When someone lies they show a lot of their character and who they are. Obviously not a mature move to make.
Through out the novel Holden tries to be very mature and try’s to act like an adult. He goes out to bars and wants to have a lot of sex and date. It’s very clear that Holden wants to be mature but still wants to be innocent like his sister Phoebe. I think Holden sometimes misses being young and innocent. “ Maybe I’ll go to China. My sex life is lousy anyway.” (Holden Pg. 147) Holden is really a virgin and wants to have sex but is really afraid to take that step. Like when he gets the prostitute Sunny in his room Holden backs out. “ I had the whole night free so I...