Homework task: How Holden acts like a child and how Holden acts like an adult

Holden behaves (language, actions, reactions) like an adolescent.	Holden behaves (language, actions, reactions) like an adult.
"..I kept standing there, of giving old Jane a buzz- I mean calling her long distance at B.M... The only reason I didn't call him was because I wasn't in the mood." (pg. 63) He is afraid to call her because he thinks she will judge him	Holden’s strong focus of the ducks in the lake and where they go, is symbolic to life and where he will go into life. "I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away." (pg. 13). Even if he doesn’t want to grow up, he slowly does.
He asks a complete stranger that is his cab driver, "Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail"" (pg. 60. He doesn’t want to face the reality of being alone; where he has left school and needs to tell his parents of his situation of being expelled for failing academically.	When Holden visits Central Park and sees the lake he has a realisation, "Then, I finally found it. What it was, it was partly frozen and partly not frozen." The lake is transitioning into two states, frozen and not frozen. Which is ultimately a symbol of what he is doing; transitioning into adulthood from adolescence.
"Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it though, the same week I made it- the same night, as a matter of fact." (pg. 63). He tries to make up rules like an adult, but ends up breaking them almost immediately.	"I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the blond one... I just gave all three of them this very cool glance and all." (pg. 70). Tries to act grown up in front of these 3 ladies.
"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deer would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket." (pg. 121). This shows that he wishes that everything would stay the same, so he wouldn’t have to be an adult and stay a child forever.	."..this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself with I go back to school next September. It's such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is you don't. I think I am, but how do I know"" (pg. 213). He snaps back to reality and realises that he will apply himself better at school.
He finds the adultword repulsive and show-offy. "The band was putrid." (pg. 69) and "They were mostly old and show-offy looking guys" (pg. 69)	When Holden is at Phoebe’s school and he sees the words “Fuck you” on walls, he rubs it out.
"I think they should've at least offered to pay their drinks they had before I joined them..." (pg. 75). Due to his innocence and how young he looks and acts, the 3 ladies left him to pay the bill.	He drinks, smokes, even orders a prostitute.
Holden deities his siblings and anyone who is a child and not an adult: as if they are all child prodigys. He says of his sister Phoebe, "You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your life. She's really smart." (pg. 67).
His red hunting hat symbolises his childish ways, but in special events he takes it off, saying it looks “childish” and “stupid.”
Comes up with unrealistic ideas, such as his plans to run away and live someplace far away and live a simple life.

 

Homework Task: The Catcher in the Rye

What do you think of the idea that although “he cannot change the world in which he lives … it is possible for him [Holden] to find his own place within it”? Write 2-3 paragraphs outlining your response to this statement. Be sure to make specific references to the novel.

The idea that although "he cannot change the world in which he lives ... It is possible for him [Holden] to find his own place within it," is very true and the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, demonstrates this within the character of Holden Caulfield. Whole novel, the character of Holden is searching for his identity and belonging and acceptance by engaging in mature activities. He struggles to find himself as he isolates himself from society and people who want to help him and criticizes others. He is in the process from adolescence to 'phony' adulthood. Physical changes for Holden show that he is defiant against the natural process of adolescence and the hormones that come with this,  "I looked exactly like the guy in the article with lousy hormones." (p. 254). Holden feels that he needs to maintain his youth and innocence, but in contrast, he also feels that he needs to act mature, "I ordered a Scotch and soda, and told him not to mix it-I said it fast as hell, because if you hem and haw, they think you're under twenty-one and won't sell you any intoxicating liquor," (p. 91).  Holden is torn between his 'want' of staying an adolescent forever, but there is this push for him to transition on to adulthood. He is trying to find who he is through these mature activities. Flirting with older women, is another example. Whenever he does so, the women question his age and laugh at him for his efforts,  "I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again …. They probably thought I was too young to give anybody the once-over." (p. 91). Although he attempts to join the adulthood through these activities, he constantly rejects and criticizes their flaws.

In the last chapter of the book, Holden realizes that he can't hold in to adolescence forever and his view of 'phony' adults is almost gone. This shows that he is ultimately growing up and seeing things in a different perception. This is the turning point for Holden as he realizes that he needs to move on and he can now find who he truly is, instead of trying to change everyone else around him to act like him. "I don't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don't know what I think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it," (p. 192). He has changed, as in the beginning of the novel, he felt the need to tell everyone everything, but now he regrets it. Also, at times throughout the novel, he has criticized everyone and called them "phony" and had nothing nice to say about them, but at the end, he is in a state where he needs those he rejected, "About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about." (p. 192).