Holden's Adolescence in The Catcher in the Rye Essay

In the catcher in the rye the tones on sorrow and anger reflect the misguided structure of Holdens adolescent life. Despite Holdens availability for a substantial all American teenager, Holden destroys himself with self conflict. Salinger still shows the hypocrisy between Holden and structured society even after anger and sorrow takes place into Holdens life.

Salingers diction brings out the isolation that Holden makes him self have with the social world. Holden, who goes to pencey prep with hot shots that jump over fences with horses makes things harder for himself. Here Holden is shying him self away from the society of pencey prep that has been given to him , he believes that almost all the people that go there are molded into something that society wants us to be , and what Holden doesnt want to be. A feeling of alone bitterness comes upon Holden as he talks about the so called polo playing school that pencey is made out to be. Self destructive is what Holden becomes while leaving foils and equipment and stuff on the goddamn subway. This is an example of the self destructive life style Holden lives, were he doesnt care much about anything, even when his trust is in others hands. Holdens personality and social tactics isolate himself from others easily.

Salingers detail illuminates Holdens out of place life style that he keeps on perceiving is the right thing to do. The detail in this book also brings out the topic that Holden doesnt want to accept adult hood in his own life or that of any other child. Saying that the life of an adult is phony because of the goals and desires they pursue. But also Holdens life is out of place because of this. Holden doesnt understand why people want to change or why they have the loss of innocence after adolescence. Jane, Holdens friend, is one of the many people that Holden wants to save, along with phoebe and the rest of the adolescent world. He doesnt understand {were the ducks are} in the winter, or why they have left. Holden just puts him self out of place with many ways.

The organization of this novel goes from radical to isolation and then finally to fear or a strong worry. In the beginning of this novel Holden was a student at pency prep, which was one of the many schools that Holden had been kicked out of. In this section of the story hold seamed to be some what of an awkward teen, some one that shied himself away from the crowd, or was always questioning authority. At the end of Holdens time at pency prep is was clearer in the novel that he had been changing emotionally, going from a normal to a disturbed and self destructive person. As Holden arrives in New York in the late evening it seams like he is desperate to go out and look for people to meet. Holden then calls faith Cavendish, this is a great example of the isolation that Holden puts himself through. He makes himself so lonely that he is desperate to call a random girl in the middle of the night just to have a conversation. His focus on the other people around him screams that Holden is begging for companionship in his life. An example of this would be Jane. As Holden met up with phoebe, his younger sister, we found out that he was almost more of a kid than she is. Unable to accept and cope with the changes and problems in society Holden somewhat tricked himself into believing that the transformation into adulthood was wrong, and the innocence in adolescence shouldnt be touched. Worried for the next generation, Holden put him self in an isolated mind state that only believed in what he knew, which was the life of a child. While in the midst of this you could tell Holden was bringing himself into a mental breakdown.

Salinger used Holden as a representative for the many teens of America that are not looked at as much in our society, or even looked down upon. The diction, detail, and organization of the book created the emotional state that Holden was in. With out the development of Holden this way in the story there would not be such a dramatic effect on the reader.