The Catcher in the Rye: Holden's Adolescent Mentality

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child’s life. In J.D. Salinger’s book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager’s lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

Holden has an apparent dislike for society. He insists that “[he] is surrounded by phonies (Salinger 13)” and left Elkton Hills because of it. Elkton Hills is one of the universities that Holden attended, and then failed out of for “Not applying [himself] (Salinger 4).” He labels others as phonies as a way of making himself feel like he has things together and is exactly who he says he is, but in reality he is just as phony as he thinks everyone else is. On the outside he lets others see that he understands what he must do to succeed, but on the inside, he is terribly lost and hasn’t a clue where to direct himself. When Holden visited Mr. Spencer before he left Pencey, after Spencer gave his lecture Holden just gave him “the old bull” (Salinger 17), saying “phony” things just to get Spencer to stop lecturing him. Holden is avoiding the harsh truths of reality that people have been trying to drill into him his whole life. He is annoyed with these truths, because he knows they are right but is too reluctant to accept them. “He believes that he is holed in, trapped by the games of phoniness that society requires its citizens to play. He tries to escape by flunking out of school by searching for a quiet retreat…” (Mitchell 90). Holden is striving to remain non-phony, at the cost of everything else important in his life.

Holden also proves himself to be somewhat immature for is age. Harold Bloom stresses that “[Holden’s] central dilemma is that he wants to retain a child’s innocence” (Bloom 22). It is as if Holden wants to stay young and innocent, and is avoid the reality of becoming an adult. Other’s see this characteristic in Holden and don’t find it likeable. When he meets one of his old friends at the bar for a drink, he begins asking him immature questions about his sex life. His friend responds saying, “I refuse to answer any Caulfield questions tonight” (Salinger 146). The way he distinctly stated “Caulfield questions” reveals that Holden is known for his immature antics.

Oblivion to reality seems to also be a trait of Holden’s mentality. Whenever he is presented with the possibility of a lecture, whether it is from his parents or a teacher such a Mr. Spencer he does he best to avoid listening to the harsh truths of reality. Right when “[he] could feel a terrific lecture coming on” (Salinger 10) while visiting Spencer, he “wanted to get the hell out of the room” (Salinger 10). And when he snuck into his parents home to visit his sister, he wanted to avoid seeing his parents because he didn’t want to receive the lecture that he knew he would get when he returns home that Wednesday. He is tired of getting the same lectures every time he does something wrong, and doesn’t want to accept the consequences of his actions. In addition, his parents are wealthy, which gives him optimum financial freedom to continue with his careless and juvenile actions. With the availability of a disposable income Holden has the idea that money can fix things, and since he has an infinite supply he doesn’t see the consequences of his actions. His parents just continue to buy him into different school after he flunks out.

Despite his teenage mentality, one of Holden’s biggest problems is his lack of direction in life. At this time in his life things are changing so fast that he would rather they just right where they are. “Holden knows things won’t remain the same, they are dissolving and he cannot reconcile himself to it” (Bloom 25). For this reason he admires the museum because “everything stayed were it was”, “the only thing that would be different is you” (Salinger 121). This symbolizes him holding on to his past, not wanting things to change. As Holden meets with all of his old friends, he claims many of them to have become phonies. All of his friends have grown up, and Holden is left behind, and still acts like a child. “[Holden’s] central dilemma is that he wants to retain a child’s innocence” (Bloom 22). As everyone around changes he just wants to stay the same, young and sheltered.

Holden’s