The Last Lecture

I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing—that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That's also how I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. I'm pretty healthy though.”(Hawthorne 1.1). What Holden is referring to is the professionals helping him in the mental institution open up about…

Adolescence comes from the Latin world, adolescere, and is defined as “the transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that occurs during the period of puberty to legal adulthood”(Wikipedia.com). In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a symbolic character that represents adolescence. In the novel, Holden’s true issues are not related to the “phonies”. As a matter of fact, his true issue is his inability to accept reality because…

The children in the 1980’s Toys R Us’s commercial expressively repeated the phrase: “I don’t wanna’ grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.” Although the company Toys R Us was not founded until 1948 (About Toys"R" Us), Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has the same mentality: he does not want to grow up. His bias towards innocence and fear of adulthood leaves him with one purpose in life: to save those from enduring the pain of maturing. Due to a mishearing of…

Terri Apter once said that “adolescence is society 's permission slip for combining physical maturity with psychological irresponsibility.” Adolescence, or more precisely the transition from childhood to adulthood, is often associated with one’s struggle to become unique and create a bright future. A stage in life full of self-discovery and an acceptance of the responsibilities of adulthood, adolescence can be a daunting, yet truly fulfilling experience. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by…

The Catcher in the Rye introduces a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, who sees the adult world and growing negatively. Using tone, symbolism, and the meaning of the title to J.D Salinger shows the difficulty of growing into adulthood and having to deal with its complexities and the inability of preserving the innocence of a child. This is because Holden does not seem to want to join the phony adult world, and he tries to avoid it. He mentions he wants to live on farms and in New England…

J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that portrays a teenage boy’s struggles with adolescence. Throughout the novel, he aimlessly wanders throughout New York City, encountering prostitutes, nuns, new faces, old faces, and also experiences “street scenes,” nightclubs, cheap hotels and many other people and places. He is sick and tired of the world and feels that everything and everyone are “phony” because he cannot understand the fact that people's personalities, identities, and…

Jose’s Great Dilemma Literary thesis statement: In “The Challenge”, Gary Soto introduces Jose as a young boy who experiences a change in his rite of passage in his personality as he undergoes liminality. I. Prior to liminality, Jose is a teenager boy who is ingenuous and has a lack of experience to loving a girl. A. Jose is naïve because he thinks that receiving perfect test scores will make Estela notice him. 1. “But when the quizzes had been returned and Jose bragged, ‘Another A-plus,’…

Synopsis The Dead Poets Society is a story that revolves around a group of boys who were attending a prestigious boys school together. Set in the 1950s, the parents and school culture were seen to be autocratic, where parents often dictated the lives of their children and leave them with no say. The story mainly unfolds from the perspectives of two students, Todd Anderson and Neil Perry, who are roommates. In the story, the students found inspiration from their English teacher, Mr. Keating, who…

Are we there yet? What’s your name? How old are you? Why? These are all common questions that a young child would ask his/her parents. Young children are usually more susceptible to new things because they have no other beliefs on how things should be. A child is always on the go, exploring new things taking interest in learning everything he/she can. As a child gets old he/she is always on the go but for different reasons. Most children go with the flow relatively easy, but adults don’t. Adults…

Some people are like trees; they take forever to grow up, including Holden Caulfield, the sixteen year old protagonist of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Throughout the novel, Holden skirmishes through teenage life because he cannot take on the responsibilities that are a part of growing up. Holden is infatuated with childhood and he chooses to be trapped between two worlds; one of innocence and the other of adulthood. On the contrary, maturity comes easily to certain…