How Does Holden Grow Up

Holden Grows Up Change is inevitable; everyone has to go through it. Some people can deal with it and others cannot. In his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger portrays Holden Caulfield as someone who cannot handle change. He acts like an adult, but he wants to be a kid at heart. With his brother/best friend dead, Holden was left alone and depressed. The only person close to him was his ten year old sister. This causes Holden to withdraw from life and it makes him reluctant to change. He enjoys visiting the museum because everything is the same. He also visits the school because everything is familiar; it has not changed, until he sees the FUs everywhere and he just about loses it. After the incident on the carrousel, Holden realizes …show more content…
He also tells Sally about how every person at Pencey is a phony. In the beginning of the book, Holden describes his headmaster at Pencey as, ". . . A phony slob . . ." (Salinger 5) Holden may think every adult is a phony but it is quite evident from his many experiences that he is the biggest phony. When Holden is on the train, he starts talking to the mother of a student he knows at Pencey; her name is Mrs. Morrow. The phoniness begins when Holden lies to her about his name. "'Rudolf Schmidt,' I told her. . . . Rudolf Schmidt was the name of our janitor of our dorm" (Salinger 61). From this point on, the lies just keep building up on top of each other. He lies about Mrs. Morrow's son being nominated for class president and how her son adapted to Pencey quickly. Holden really thinks Ernest Morrow is the biggest "bastard" (Salinger 61) at Pencey. Then, Holden really starts to lie and Mrs. Morrow believes it. He lies about why he is coming home so early. "... I have this tiny little tumor on the brain... They can take it out in about two minutes" (Salinger 61). Holden lies and lies, therefore he is the hypocrite for calling everyone else phonies. Holden wants to stop every child from falling into the hole of adulthood and becoming a phony. Holden hears a boy on the sidewalk singing "If a body catch a body coming through the Rye." In …show more content…
He wants a world of innocence and a place where no one grows up. His isolation or alienation is causing him to be lonely. His only friends are his dead brother and ten year old sister. His loneliness is protecting him from change and he often sabotages his chances of ending his loneliness only because he is too afraid to let his guards down. For example, on his date with Sally, they are enjoying themselves, but he has to blow up on her and he is so rude to her that their whole date is ruined. "'You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth'" (Salinger 148). Again, when Holden was having drinks with Luce, he kept asking him about Luce's sex life. Holden's loneliness made Holden keep bothering Luce and pushing him away. Eventually, Luce was so frustrated, he left when he had the chance to. "He said he was late now, and then he