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Holden's Immaturity Toward the Adult World
One of the most widespread criticisms of the contemporary novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, deals with the adolescence and immature nature of the main character, Holden Caulfield. The novel documents Holden's resistance with the evitable process of maturing and oncoming adulthood. As a teenager, Holden's attempts to understand adulthood comes out through criticisms that he often contradicts due to the inevitable process of becoming a part of what he criticizes. Running away from his problems and confrontation with his parents, repeated rejection and misconceptions of the adult world, irrational fantasies, and his hypocritical actions merge to form the typical personality of a confused and immature adolescent fearful of becoming an adult.
As one of the first major conflicts of the story, Holden informs the reader that he has been given the "ax", and will no longer be going to school at Pencey on account of his failing four subjects. Holden's laid-back, careless attitude concerning his expulsion from yet another school illustrates is lack of responsibility that he puts into his schoolwork. Furthermore, poor academic studies translates to more then just mere lack of effort as, "some critics will point to the fact that Holden has flunked out of three Pennsylvania prep schools, and use it to symbolize that he is still immature and not truly ready for adulthood" (Lomazoff 3). As an unripe mind, Holden is easily overwhelmed by complexities, many of which he faces at Pencey. At a small, elitist school, such as Pencey, conformity is as common as it is necessary. Straying from the social norm, as Holden demonstrates by attending the football games, he forces a wedge between himself and his peers. This isolation has deprived him from the experience that comes with building meaningful relationships. As a result of his lack of experience on how to deal with social problems, Holden engages in a physical fight with his roommate, Stradlater. Instead of talking rationally with Stradlater about his concerns for Jane, Holden's immaturity peaks as he unreasonably decides in a moment of anger to leave Pencey altogether. His impulsive decision was not well planned for he never once considered the consequences of his actions. Justifiably, Holden claims that he, "sort of need[s] a little vacation. My nerves [are] shot" (Salinger 51). He hides his anger toward Stradlater and resentment toward the prep school under a euphonic "vacation" title. Holden's choice of words and abrupt actions signify his lack of mature, logical reasoning to cope with predicaments and his tendency to leave a trail of dilemmas closely following behind. By refusing to deal with the apparent issues at hand and personal conflicts, Holden is portrayed as a child whose limited understanding of the world around him leads to poor decision making.
Through the novel, Holden expresses intense opinions on nearly everything and everyone he encounters. Unfortunately, Holden often did not remain true to his initial feelings by contradicting himself continuously. By portraying such hypocritical actions, Holden tells the world that he does not clearly understand his strongly proclaimed convictions and that his feeling run at a superficial level. For instance, Holden takes every opportunity to insult the adult world, all while making it extremely apparent that he is not a part of that environment nor is he ready to be. Therefore, Holden has no understanding as to what being mature entails. Clueless as to the thoughts, feeling and conflicts within the adult world, Holden feels justified criticizing and pointing out the imperfections of adults. In addition, Holden's opinions are more then likely to have been derived with shallow pretenses. At the beginning of the novel, Holden proclaims that, "if there is one thing he hates, it's the movies" (Salinger 4). Less then four chapters later, Holden quickly contradicts himself by making arrangements to go to the movies with Mal Brossard, a fellow student at Pencey. It is obvious that Holden's aversion toward the movies is a mere collection of quickly glazed-over thoughts based on one or two experiences rather than a founded opinion. Literary critic, Glasser, expands on this theory by explaining, "Holden's thoughts are a result of childlike feelings" (464). Holden speaks in hopes of appearing intellectually deep while denying his immaturity. Write your Holden's Immaturity Twoard the Adult world research paper
Holden is often quick to pass judgment on others yet he is slow to see his own flaws. When describing Ackley, Holden states that he "hate[s] everybody" (Salinger 19). Holden ridicules Ackley for his hatred of people, while Holden himself feels animosity for almost everyone he meets, including Ackley. Literary critic Peter Seng notes that throughout the entire book Holden repeatedly says, "he hates lies, phoniness, [and] pretense" (2). Phoniness, one of Holden's favorite concepts, stands as an emblem of everything that is wrong in the world around him including superficiality, hypocrisy, pretension, and shallowness. Ironically, Holden himself possesses all these characteristics. From the moment Holden left Pency he began an escapade of pointing out all the evils of the world and almost immediately partaking in them afterward. For example, Holden exhibits the true definition of being "phony" by telling lie after lie to Mrs. Morrow, who innocently asked Holden his name as an attempt to make polite conversation. Holden responds to her question almost immediately, "Rudolf Schmidt' I told her. I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm" (Salinger 54). Holden continues this charade for the remainder of their time spent together without giving a second thought about his needless lies. He would like us to believe that he is a paragon of virtue in a world of phoniness, but that is not the case. His deceptions are generally pointless as well as cruel and only further represent his lack of compassion and understanding of human nature. By focusing on the world around him and criticizing it through a dismissive and critical lens, Holden avoids introspection and reflection on his own shortcomings. Even on a more simplistic level, the fact that Holden never once notices these contradictions or can even fathom that his astonishing perfection could once be altered by a world filled with "phoniness". He clearly understands that the path or growing up is a long and winding one that starts with childhood and ends up in the adult worlds, yet Holden does not grasp that the transition is inevitable, even in himself. His failure to assume that he would soon become apart of the hypocrisy, and evil of the adult world is just another misconceptions reflecting his still immature way of thinking. The only that thing that remains solid about his convictions is that fact that they are continuously contradicted throughout the novel.
Instead of acknowledging that adulthood scares and mystifies him, Holden invents a fantasy that adulthood represents a world of superficiality and hypocrisy, while childhood stands for innocence, curiosity and honesty. Nothing reveals his image of these two worlds better than his fantasy about the catcher in the rye. As a last desperate attempt to simplify the adult and child worlds into black and white, right and wrong categories, Holden pictures,
all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kinds, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff…I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to …catch them" (Salinger 173).
Holden's fantasy of being a catcher symbolizes his desire to save the children from falling prey to the "phoniness" of society. His questionable belief as to whether they would actually go over the cliff implies his disbelief that growing up is an inevitable part of life. Holden also says that if they do begin the maturing process, it is obvious that they "don't look where they're going". Again he is so blinded by his immature beliefs that he cannot imagine why someone would want to become an adult. Literary critic states that Holden's "fantasies are rooted in a single desire: a wish to escape form an adult world with which Holden feels that he cannot cope" (Behrman 321). He finds comfort imagining childhood as an idyllic field of rye in which children romp and play, and feels that falling over the edge is equivalent to loss of innocence.
Holden's immaturity sets up controversy within The Catcher in the Rye and is probably one of the most criticized elements of the book. Holden's juvenile perspective on adulthood interferes with his views on life in general causing him to lead a life absent of true joy, relationships, or fulfillment.
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