Childhood to adulthood. Isn’t it supposed to represent the point in one’s life where a person moves on from the past? It certainly is not the time to end up in a mental institution. For Holden, in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, he is cemented in between the two worlds and it collapses. Holden is obsessed with the idea of childhood and protecting other children from growing up. He does not apply himself and eventually, ends up in a mental institution. Although Holden is soon to enter into the adult world, he reverts to his childish ways, and he also refuses to acknowledge the adult world. Though Holden is no longer a kid, he thinks in an unrealistic way to protect and stop them from growing up. When Holden is inside his younger sister
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While Holden was walking to Broadway, he spotted a family strolling out of a church. A little boy was walking on the side of the street singing, “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Holden says, “It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed” (Salinger 116). Holden is obsessed with the idea of childhood and seeing the kid walking without a care in the world made Holden see that the “perfect” family can still exist. Since his childhood is over, he has to find another way to relive it. Through the kid in the street Holden relives his own childhood to try and make himself content again. Holden had also bought a “Little Shirley Beans” record for Phoebe that was about a young child. He broke it, but says, “I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket” (Salinger 154). Holden had bought this record for Phoebe because she listened to it as a child. Holden keeping the record after it broke was odd because a broken record has no use to him or Phoebe. Holden might have kept it because it reminds him of his own childhood, that was, in a way, shattered because he experienced death and hardships. Holden misses his childhood, so keeping the record is like saving his own childhood memories. Holden has no sense of balance in his life and therefore, resorts to obsessing over his childhood that is
While Holden was walking to Broadway, he spotted a family strolling out of a church. A little boy was walking on the side of the street singing, “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Holden says, “It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed” (Salinger 116). Holden is obsessed with the idea of childhood and seeing the kid walking without a care in the world made Holden see that the “perfect” family can still exist. Since his childhood is over, he has to find another way to relive it. Through the kid in the street Holden relives his own childhood to try and make himself content again. Holden had also bought a “Little Shirley Beans” record for Phoebe that was about a young child. He broke it, but says, “I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket” (Salinger 154). Holden had bought this record for Phoebe because she listened to it as a child. Holden keeping the record after it broke was odd because a broken record has no use to him or Phoebe. Holden might have kept it because it reminds him of his own childhood, that was, in a way, shattered because he experienced death and hardships. Holden misses his childhood, so keeping the record is like saving his own childhood memories. Holden has no sense of balance in his life and therefore, resorts to obsessing over his childhood that is