The Characteristics Of Teenagers In Holden In The Rye

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Teenagers are mostly sassy, angsty, witty, and overall an unpredictable bunch. However, there is no exception to sixteen year old Holden Caulfield, who probably possessed all of the stereotypical characteristics of a regular teenager. Holden has been just another misunderstood teen who was stereotyped on his road to adulthood. He made adults everywhere say “Yeah, that is basically my son/daughter/other in a nutshell”. With this said, I will not deny that most teenagers maintain some, or all, of the personality traits stated above, but there is obviously more to us than goofy actions and sassy comments. There is a reasoning behind why we do something and what influences us to do them, but other actions are just unexplainable. However, I …show more content…
Reading from his point of view imitates the inside of most teenagers’ minds surprisingly well. Holden shows how fast we can switch from emotion to emotion, how analytical we can be about everything, and how isolated others make us feel because of our age. For example, when he tried to get alcohol, he got shut down rather quickly, only for his reaction to be “I didn 't hold it against him, though. They lose their jobs if they get caught selling to a minor. I 'm a goddam minor” (Salinger 78). It does not bother him that he is young, it only aggravated him because his age restricted him from doing something he wishes to do. This could tell why a lot of teenagers hold anger when an adult figure tells them to not do something that they think is a good idea. Another reason why Holden represents the youth of today is …show more content…
It made me more aware of my attitude towards people and how I perceive my own life. It is peculiar to read you own thoughts on a published piece of paper and have all of your friends relate to one teenager from a different time era. It sort of puts everything that I have done in my teenage years into perspective and makes me wonder why I am like that. Ultimately I can blame it on puberty, chemical changes in my brain, and outward influences, but everything I do is determined by me, myself and I. There is not a definite explanation why teenagers are the way they are. The only information I can provide about teenagers is that we are the center of our own world because we are the only ones who are there for us in the end. Our problems get pushed away like they are no big deal, but it is huge deal to us because it is all we know. Our lives revolve around what others think about us because that is just the high school experience. Between adults degrading us and stereotypes they force us into, we have to feel this way. There is no place in the world for a “good” teenager because we are supposedly always up to no good. Everything we do is nitpicked because we are transitioning into adults and there is no room for error, but that is just how we learn, from our

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