“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it. (Rooney)", a quote from Andy Rooney provides an example of a reason people may want to grow up more quickly, and a reason why they shouldn't. People everywhere try to rush into adulthood, but the truth is that it's a painful process that everyone goes through eventually. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the author teaches us that growing up is painful so that anyone reading his book won't try to grow up too quickly and lose their innocence before they have to. Salinger uses symbols, and characters throughout the novel to further explain his outlook and carry out this important theme of the novel. The three
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Sunny is a young prostitute that Holden meets at a hotel in New York. In the novel, Holden gives the readers an idea of the way she acts when he says, "She was very nervous for a prostitute.(Salinger 94)". Judging solely by the description, Sunny seems as though she may have been forced into prostitution, because she is so young. Sunny had to grow up before her time to make money and survive in the world on her own. Sunny's name is supposed to hint at the fact that unlike most people her age, she works at night and most likely doesn't get to see the sun or enjoy her youth, further proving that growing up prematurely isn't something anyone should do. Salinger used Sunny to support the idea that growing up is painful, because she not only had to grow up quickly to survive, but also because she was thrown into an extreme life, even for a mature …show more content…
Holden is a teenager, resisting maturity and denying the fact that adulthood fascinates him. On one occasion, he admits to his fear of change and adulthood when he says, "Sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t (Salinger, 63).” Rather than admit to being afraid to change, Holden invents a world all his own where adulthood is full of hypocrisy and childhood is simple and innocent. He doesn't understand the world around him and is not ready to grow up and change to fit the adult world. The inevitability of adulthood is all but nonexistent to Holden. Holden is perplexed by the complexity of the adult world, and cannot accept the fact that at some point in our lives, everyone grows
Sunny is a young prostitute that Holden meets at a hotel in New York. In the novel, Holden gives the readers an idea of the way she acts when he says, "She was very nervous for a prostitute.(Salinger 94)". Judging solely by the description, Sunny seems as though she may have been forced into prostitution, because she is so young. Sunny had to grow up before her time to make money and survive in the world on her own. Sunny's name is supposed to hint at the fact that unlike most people her age, she works at night and most likely doesn't get to see the sun or enjoy her youth, further proving that growing up prematurely isn't something anyone should do. Salinger used Sunny to support the idea that growing up is painful, because she not only had to grow up quickly to survive, but also because she was thrown into an extreme life, even for a mature …show more content…
Holden is a teenager, resisting maturity and denying the fact that adulthood fascinates him. On one occasion, he admits to his fear of change and adulthood when he says, "Sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t (Salinger, 63).” Rather than admit to being afraid to change, Holden invents a world all his own where adulthood is full of hypocrisy and childhood is simple and innocent. He doesn't understand the world around him and is not ready to grow up and change to fit the adult world. The inevitability of adulthood is all but nonexistent to Holden. Holden is perplexed by the complexity of the adult world, and cannot accept the fact that at some point in our lives, everyone grows