Holden's Transition Into an Adult

There is a moment in every child’s life where he or she realizes that growing up is not as desirable as they once thought. Before this moment they fantasize about not having a bedtime or driving or finally being able to drink. But then they feel the weight of the adult world with its responsibilities and restrictions of a society that doesn’t value the individual and expects its citizens to morph into mature, controllable adults. This is the time parents hate, the time when their children try to rebel or run away to escape their future as adults, but time, alas, cannot be outrun. The adult world expects many things of its inhabitants—a job, a family, taxes, sex, and much more. Unfortunately, most young adults feel as though they will be crushed under this strange new world. Holden Caulfield is no different. When we meet Holden and when we leave him at the end of the novel he is in a mental hospital because of a recent break down. J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is Holden’s reflection on the events that led to this mental break down. He is a young adult still trying to hold on to the world of children for as long as he can. The child world is a place with very few things to worry about. It is a place of innocence and a time when anything is possible. The adult world could not be more different. As Holden is starting to see, the world of adults is cold, uncaring, and unfair. When people make the transition from children to adults they change forever—they become what society believes acceptable adults to be. Holden is reluctant to make the transition and conform to the adult world because he believes that in conforming he would lose his innocence and disappear. Holden is reluctant to leave his childhood behind because that would mean conforming to the public opinion of what adults should be. There are very few examples of adults in this novel for Holden to see what an exemplary adult is and does. One of the few adults we meet is Mr. Spencer. Even if Holden

Cited: Page Alsen, Eberhard. “The Catcher in the Rye.” Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Bloom’s, 2002. Web. 21 Mar. 2010 Moore, Robert. “The World of Holden.” English Journal 3rd ser. 54 (1965): 159-65. JSTOR. National Council of Teachers of English. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. Shaw, Peter. “Holden Caulfield Is Dealing With Expected Psychological Angst of Adolescence.” Depression in J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Trowbridge, Clinton W. “ The Symbolic Structure of The Catcher in the Rye.” Sewanee Review 74.3 (1966): 21-30. Print.