Holden Caulfield Research Paper

The Reason Behind Holden’s Behavior Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder caused by people experiencing an unusual and frightening event that overwhelms their ability to cope with the stress. The book, Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger is about a seventeen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield, who wants to preserve the innocence of children. He has seen the adult world and resents to enter it, ever since he dropped out of his high school. Holden wants to resist change because he fears adulthood and wants to live in a world filled with innocence and honesty. Although he does seem to be attracted to some of the actions of an adult: alcohol, cigarettes, the thought of sex, and independence, Holden strongly dislikes the phoniness of adults, …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, he talks to one of his teachers, Mr.Spencer, about him failing school and he writes to Spencer, “It is all right with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything except English anyway” (Salinger 15). Holden is okay with failing his classes and doesn’t mind getting kicked out of school. He felt that school was pointless, since he lacked trying for his schoolwork. Holden also seems to avoid growing up into an adult, which is shown by him failing in school and refusing to live the life his parents dream for …show more content…
Holden has been through difficult situations from his past it may have inflicted him a little, but the true reason for Holden’s behavior could be the fact that he is going through puberty. Many boys who go through puberty has a change in their mind, they grow up viewing the world much differently. As Holden matures he blocks out his parents, when he needed help he never relied on them, he always tried to run from them. Teenagers often disconnect themselves,“Parents often feel rejected, and in a sense they are...from whom your children must become independent if they are to have their own life” (Surviving). Teens want to get away from people at times, especially their parents, and want to become their own person. The way Holden talks about his parents it seems like he can’t confide in them, he never opened up about anything important to his parents. When Holden went back to his house to visit Phoebe, he was very cautious about how he would enter in because he wanted to avoid his parents, "You can hit my father over the head with a chair and he won't take up, but my mother, all you have to do to my mother is cough somewhere in Siberia and she'll hear you”(Salinger 175). Holden tried to be quiet and not get caught by his parents, a regular teenage boy who just got kicked out of his school would not