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His message to Holden is to become socially intelligent and to take a broad view of how his actions affect the world. Spencer has a far superior knowledge of how the world functions due to his age. Spencer, he is told that ‘life is a game that one plays by the rules’. Holden’s immaturity is displayed through his inability to take advice or make decisions.
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He is clearly scared and not emotionally ready to grow up and complete his transition from a child to an adult. The fact that Holden feels he wants to prevent children from falling into adulthood gives the reader an insight into his own mind. The author uses the cliff to symbolically refer to a child losing his or her innocence and becoming an adult. Holden replies that he just wants to be the ‘Catcher in the Rye’, meaning he wants to save children from falling off the ‘cliff’. The pinnacle of Holden’s fantasies of an idealistic environment is revealed when Phoebe asks him what he wants to be when he is older. This version of life is reliable and lacking skulduggery he wouldn’t have to involve himself in conversation or other human interactions (which cause him emotional discomfort). Holden wants to find security and the museum offers him a simplified version of life he desperately craves. Holden admits he likes the fact ‘that everything always stays right where it ’, which provides the reader with conclusive evidence that he is scared of changing, of growing up and becoming different. The museum serves as his escape from complicated adult life because unlike reality, the museum remains unchanged. The ‘museum’ is a very important place to Holden because it is a place where the normal ‘laws’ of the world do not exist. Holden’s first response to adulthood is to try and avoid it by entering his own world where he is in control. The natural human response to a threatening situation is either fight or flight. Such incidents are an early indication that Holden is an awkward individual who can’t comprehend why he must act in the same manner as everyone else. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. For this reason, he is constantly ‘horsing around’ without any thought as to how his behaviour affects the people around him. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. Although he appears to have some friends, namely his roommate and ‘Ackley kid’, it is clear that he does not integrate well with his peer group. However, it soon becomes evident that Holden’s personality does not conform to the teenager stereotype. Holden also seems to think about girls often, especially ‘Jane’, yet another typical trait of a teenage boy.
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He complains about his school, which he claims is no better than ‘any other school’, and the language he uses makes him sound rude and obnoxious. When Holden Caulfield is first introduced as a character he appears to be a fairly typical, normal teenager. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society. Through the main protagonist Holden Caulfield, J.D. The novel Catcher in the Rye explores how adult life appears complex and incomprehensible to teenagers on the brink of entering it. During the process the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we become members of a cruel, unjust society can the blissful ignorance of childhood be appreciated and missed. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing, often uncovering questions that cannot be answered. This single event is labelled ‘growing up’. Not everyone can say it is a pleasant experience, but no one can deny that it happened. There is a singular event that unites every single human being on the planet.