Mrs. O
American Literature 4
4 October 2012
Things Change
The more things change the more they stay the same in Holden Caulfield’s case is wrong. In the story, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield had to go through many changes to become the person he is at the end of the story. The many changes he went through matured him into a man that accepts life. Holden in the story went through many obstacles to survive when he ran away from home. The death of his brother Allie contributed to a personality change. Also, Holden had to deal with some interesting characters including Maurice a pimp.
The time Holden spent alone was one of the main reasons he became a changed man by the end of the story. Holden used profanity, drank, and he lied it was not unit he the end of the book that he was able to look back on this and convey that he was just a scared kid. When Holden was living in New York, he went through many changes. His personality remained the same as it was in the beginning of the story while he was in New York. When he looked back on the events that took place there, he changed his views and his personality changed.
Holden meets Maurice who is a pimp. When they meet, Maurice immediately tells Holden he is lonely and needs to have some “fun.” Holden decides to take Maurice up on his offer thinking it will be good practice for him to be with a woman before he gets married. When the prostitute arrives at his room, Holden begins to judge her. He projected some of his feelings on her. He realized he did not want to have relations with her and decides to pay her but not have sex. When she asks for ten dollars, he insists that they agreed upon five dollars. Thinking that he just got out of trouble, Maurice comes in and starts to yell at Holden. While he was yelling, the prostitute takes the money. The reason that this had an effect on Holden’s personality later is he finally learns that bad stuff things sometimes happen and he needs to