Maturity in the Catcher in the Rye

matureness in the Catcher in the rye Maturity is a process in life that norm eachy no one can run away from. The raw the Catcher in the Rye, by J. D Salinger, tries to disprove that lesson through its protagonist. Holden often behaves like a prophet or a saint, pointing out the phonies roughly him because he believes they atomic number 18 non as mature as he is, nevertheless as the novel progresses, Holden make fors choices that prevents him from maturing rather than enabling him to mature. Holdens mail goal is to resist the process of increment up. Holden also mocks the adults slightly him to make him feel better.To cope with society, Holden alienates him egotism from the people he considers phonies. Usu solelyy, novels such as The Catcher in the Rye tell the story of a young protagonists growth to maturity ironically, Holdens chief(prenominal) goal is to resist the process of maturity. Holden does not want to mature because he timiditys change and is overwhelmed by compl exity. On page 201 of the novel, Holden says Somebodyd scripted fuck you on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little pincers would see it, and finally some dirty kid would tell them.This quotation shows that Holden is scared and worried astir(predicate) Phoebe growing up. Eventually, Phoebe go away defraud what the word means just like Holden did. There is no stopping the process but Holden erases the preindication some(prenominal)ways to symbolize his determination. He does eventually realize that he cannot stop the process when he tries to erase another(prenominal) sign that does not line up off. Not only is Holden afraid of change, but he refuses to acknowledge this fear so whenever he is forced to, he invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of phonies. Holden shows this when he says Sex is some intimacy I just dont understand.I swear to God I dont on page 93. Instead of acknowledging that having sex scares and mystifies him, Holden invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of superficiality and hypocrisy by telling the readers horrible things near sex. The first step to solving a problem is admitting that there is one. Holden does not even know he has a problem let alone admitting it. At the end of the novel, Holden does however find out that he has a problem but he dumb does not want to admit it which suggests that he is fluid trying to achieve is goal and believes that one twenty-four hour period he bequeath achieve it.Holdens view of society shows that Holden only points out the phonies most him to make him feel better, yet he does not realize that he is flawed. Through out the novel, Holden criticize adults rear his smiles because it makes him feel superior without having the sense of guilt since the adults does not know. This is shown when Holden vents his feelings about Spencers advice. On page 8 he says Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then its a game, all rightIll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there arent any hot-shots, then whats a game about it?Nothing. No game.. . Hiding behind Holdens nodding and smiling is himself cursing and mocking Spencer. While Spencer is trying to tell Holden the importance of playing by the rules, Holden mocks his similarity instead of looking at the main point which shows that he doesnt really care about what Spencer has to say even though it has been established that Holden thinks about Spencer quite a lot. Every time Holden criticises the phonies around him, he criticises them in a way that convinces the reader that he is right to build up his self esteem.This is shown when Holden says Then I tried to get them in a little intelligent conversation, but it was practically impossible. You had to twist their arms. You could hardly tell which one was the stupidest of the three of them. Then the three of them of them kept looking all around the goddam room, like as if they expect a flock of goddam movie stars to come in any minute. On page 73. Holden believes that the three women were looking around the room because they are stupid, but he does not consider the fact that the three women were looking around the room because they were bored of him and valued him to go away.Holden makes a statement that can be easily argued into a true fact that is written in stone and cannot be erased by using slang and the unique tone of voice he has. It makes everything he criticises seem true which makes himself feel better. Holden needs to realize that his view of society is wrong and that children will have to grow up and that there is no way to stop it. Holden says on page 119 God, I love it when a kids nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most kids are. They really are because he loves children. Throughout the novel, Holden has never criticised, offend or cursed at children.He always says nice things about them. This is becau se he likes children and he does not want children to mature into young adults. On the contrary, Holdens view of a perfect childhood is as incorrect as his view of the adult world as totally phoney, and just helps Holden hide from the fact that the complex issues he will have to face in growing up terrify him. This form of delusional craziness can only last so long. Holden will eventually grow up, whether he likes it or not. Mr. Antolini and Phoebe both make it clear that unless he learns to look at the complexities of adulthood, he will end up, at beaver, bitter and alone.To cope with society and the adult world, Holden alienates himself from the people he considers phonies so that he will be able to resist growing up. Throughout the novel it is seen that Holdens alienation is the cause of most of his pain but it is also a source of Holdens strength. This is shown when His aloneness gets him into his date with Sally Hayes, but his need for isolation causes him to insult her and drive her away. As the novel progresses it shows that Holden desperately needs human contact but his protective wall of bitterness prevents him from having interactions with other humans for besides long.He wants to have a relationship but he does not want to commit to it because he knows that when he does commit to a relationship, he will turn into an adult and sleep together an adult life. That is why he tells Sally Hayes to run away with him. Holden does not want to deal with the complexities of the world around him so he tries to escape it to resist the process of growing up. Holden tries to escape the adult world by not thinking about it and dreaming of a world where nothing changes.But when Holden goes to the Museum of Natural History, it gives him something to think about. He says The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobodyd move. . . . Nobodyd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. (page 212) The Eskimos are silent, and always the same. Holden can think about and judge the Eskimo in the display case, but the Eskimo will never judge him back. It troubles him that he has changed each time he returns, patch the museums displays never changes.They represent the simple and manageable vision of the perfect life that Holden wishes he could live and stay in forever. After reading the novel, readers learn that although Holden goal is crazy, in the end he has enceinte determination. Readers notice that at the end of the novel, Holden has not changed. He still tries to resist growing up, he still mocks the people he considers phonies, and he still alienates himself from the people he considers phonies. Holdens character is very ludicrous but it teaches readers about maturity and how hard it is to not grow up.