Holden Caulfield's Abnormal Adolescence

The transitioning period between childhood and adulthood is referred to as adolescence, During this time, teenagers gain independence, discover their personality, and plan for their futures. In J. D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is a 17- year—old boy amidst his adolescent journey. Although every adolescents will experience different things during this time period, there are clear distinctions of what is typical versus atypical developmental behavior. A staggering number of readers recall their adolescence similar to Holden’s, however, his egocentric behavior, alarming drive for independence, and disconcerting sexual encounters prove that he is experiencing an abnormal adolescent development, Egocentrism is defined as “the inability to differentiate between self and other.

More specifically, it is the inability to untangle subjective schemas from objective reality; an inability to understand or assume any perspective other than their own”.

Holden tries to act differently from his peers, as he senses pressure to from society. Some of the people around him push Holden to act older than his real age, while only a few accept his actions as those of a normal adolescent Holden builds himself up to prove that he is mature for his age; “I don’t give a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age Sometimes I act a lot older than I am — I really do but people never notice it People never notice anything”.

Many of the experiences Holden shares in the novel reflect the personality of a naive and vain teenager.

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One time that Holden reminded me of myself was when he admitted that he was afraid of being unable to deal with conflicts, confusion, and change. These three things can be daunting or adolescents and really anyone of any age. I started to notice more of a disconnect when Holden started talking about the museum in an incredibly hypocritical toner .

“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. Nobody‘d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you” (Salinger 121), In this quotation, as well as others throughout the book, Holden says that people are going to change; however, he lacks the ability to accept that he will change as well. Holden also speaks hypocritically when denying his involvement in the future of his environment; he resists the notion of change by alienating himself from society and denying any contribution in the destruction of the environment. Self-centered thinking is common among adolescents, but Holden elevates his thinking to a whole new level. This can be seen when he answers his younger sister, Phoebe, after she asks him what he wants to do in life: “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.

What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — [m]. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 173) After reading this part in the novel, I thought that Holden was using children nearing a cliff as an analogy for kids advancing into adulthood. We know that Holden believes the adult world is cruel and artificial, so maybe he wants to prevent the kids from ‘falling’ into adulthood. It is Holden’s naive drinking which allows him to believe he can save these kids from the cliff though he is just a kid himself. It seems unrealistic to me that his method would be successful, because if he follows through with his analogy, then kids would be kids forever and no one would become adults.

In addition to Holden’s egocentric behavior comes his longing for independence- defined as “freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others” (Merriam-Webster). I, like many other adolescents, had a desire for liberation as an individual. But what sets Holden apart, is the level to which he goes to attain it. Growing up, Holden attended prestigious schools and lived in their dormitories, so he learned independence from a very early age. In the beginning of the novel, we find out that Holden was just expelled from Pencey School due to his poor academic achievement. In fear of facing a punishment, Holden doesn’t tell his parents and tries to hide out in a New York hotel. His explanation is: “I didn’t want to be around when they first got it. My mother gets very hystericalr She’s not too bad after she gets something thoroughly digested, though”.

Holden acts incredibly avoidant when handling a serious matter about his education, signifying to me that he probably wasn’t too invested in it. Judging by the lengths taken to avoid facing his parents, I have to question the relationship between Holden and his parents He never mentions his parents concerned with his whereabouts as he wonders the city. I know that when I was seventeen, I had to check in when I arrived and before I left my destinations. It could be that Holden and I just experienced the two extreme ends of the spectrum, but the lack of connection Holden has with his parents is troubling. The last main concern I developed for Holden was surrounding his sexual encounters Adolescence takes place during and after puberty, the time when hormones are on the rise and changes begin to occurr In adolescents, boys especially, it is very common to see an increased desire to fantasize about and engage in sexual acts.

Holden tells the readers that he is a virgin, which signified to me that at 17—years old he may be facing pressures, judgments and assumptions regarding his lack of sexual experience, 1 think he may have had troubles in school because he was a virgin because he aggressively attempts to defend himself when saying, “In my mind, I‘m the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. Sometimes I can think of very crumby stuff I wouldn’t mind doing if the opportunity came up”. Peer pressures and judgments are common among adolescent groups, but the actions Holden took to counter them are extremely abnormali For instance, when Holden stakes out in a hotel, he finds himself among a group of pimps, prostitutes, and “queers“. At seventeen, without parental supervision, and recently being kicked out of school, making friends with pimps and prostitutes is the last thing Holden should be doing. Holden spoke of ‘many times’ that he could have had sex, but admits that he never knew how to do it on a date This false bravado behavior is not uncommon to see among adolescents.

The reasoning behind his virginity may very well be something normal, but I also have to question if the lack of parental engagement had an effect toot Holden Caulfield shares many stories of his experiences through his adolescent development. Many of them are relatable and typical of an adolescent, and some of them are very abnormal to see for this age group, Adolescents will all experience different things during this period of time, but there are clear divisions between what is typical or atypical of developmental. A staggering number of readers report their adolescence similar to Holden’s, however, his egocentric behavior, alarming drive for independence, and disconcerting sexual encounters prove that he is experiencing an abnormal adolescent development.