Some teenagers reject growing up, which can lead them to depression and failure. Occasionally teens do not want to face adulthood and have trouble going through adolescence. J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye reveals how one teenager, Holden Caulfield, avoids the adult world and have desire to disappear. Salinger often uses language of depression and name-calling to express Holden's fear of growing up and need to escape.
Holden constantly feels depressed throughout the novel because he does not find himself in the adult world. Before a conversation with two grown girls he realizes, “They were so ignorant, and they had all those sad, fancy hats on and all. And that business about getting up to see the first show at Radio City Music Hall depressed [him]” (Salinger 75). Holden does not understand the way older people act which leads him to anguish and depression. He finds adults as fraudulents, and he is scared he might become one of them. While Holden sits watching older students, he determines, “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what …show more content…
Holden usually refers to people who act in a weird way, according to his code of conduct, as fraudulent people which he calls phonies, “One of the biggest reasons [he] left Elkton Hills was because [he] was surrounded by phonies. That's all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard [he] ever met in [his] life” (Salinger 13). Holden does not apply himself because he perceives that academic success will bring him into that adult phony world. Besides, he also calls most mature people old, “[He] mean[s] if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you are talking about” (Salinger 67). Holden often applies the name old to people who act like adults, such as her little sister Phoebe. He finds himself as an immature guy trying to understand
Holden constantly feels depressed throughout the novel because he does not find himself in the adult world. Before a conversation with two grown girls he realizes, “They were so ignorant, and they had all those sad, fancy hats on and all. And that business about getting up to see the first show at Radio City Music Hall depressed [him]” (Salinger 75). Holden does not understand the way older people act which leads him to anguish and depression. He finds adults as fraudulents, and he is scared he might become one of them. While Holden sits watching older students, he determines, “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what …show more content…
Holden usually refers to people who act in a weird way, according to his code of conduct, as fraudulent people which he calls phonies, “One of the biggest reasons [he] left Elkton Hills was because [he] was surrounded by phonies. That's all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard [he] ever met in [his] life” (Salinger 13). Holden does not apply himself because he perceives that academic success will bring him into that adult phony world. Besides, he also calls most mature people old, “[He] mean[s] if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you are talking about” (Salinger 67). Holden often applies the name old to people who act like adults, such as her little sister Phoebe. He finds himself as an immature guy trying to understand