Holden Caulfield - Tragic Adolescence at It's Best

Throughout the past up until the present and into the future, there always has been and will be what is called the "pangs of adolescence." It is said that as the years go by, the harder it is growing up. There are increasingly more pressures and obstacles that teenagers face and, only sometimes, overcome. J.D. Salinger illustrates this wonderfully through the fictional, yet very realistic character, Holden Caulfield. In "The Catcher in the Rye", adolescence today is demonstrated through Holden's quest for his identity, love, and the display of his cynicism.

Children today find out (much earlier than in the past) the harsh realities of the world. In the past children's lives were extremely sheltered. Either they are taught or cruelly faced with the brutalities that parents try so hard to conceal. Many issues children and teenagers face today are drug/alcohol abuse, depression, sexual abuse, anger management, and much more.

In the past these issues were extremely rare and hardly ever abused. Modern times bring frequent and all too available dangers. Children early on obtain a cynical attitude towards the world. Hate and anger are much too rapidly learned and practiced.

Some teenagers tend to rebel and participate in destructive behavior. Others silently grieve in their solitude. Others hide their pain and look to the future. And others are fortunate enough to be happy. No matter the situation, teenagers go through a lot to find their identities. This is the overall story of Holden Caulfield.

Growing up many people do not know who they are. They go through different phases, testing out experiences and deciding what they like best. In the end, nearly everyone comes to learn who they are without having to fake it. It is who they are when they are alone, with the people they love, and when no one is watching. To have others love you, you need to love yourself, your genuine self.

The major conflict is within Holden's own psyche. Part of him wants to connect with other people on an adult level, while part of him wants to reject the adult world as "phony," and to retreat into his own memories of childhood. Holden is terrified of growing up and this partially causes his nervous breakdown that occurs at the end of the novel, but is how Holden begins telling his story. He tries to save all children from innocence, and when he realizes he cannot, he goes insane and can't deal with it.

In his mind, Holden's behavior and thoughts are always justifiable. He is the sole righteous person in the world and it seems as though he believes that he has already found his identity. Subconsciously, he knows the truth that he hasn't the slightest clue who "Holden Caulfield" is. This causes the decisions that he makes and his quest for the meaning of his life and sanity.

Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him (at least that is what he tells himself). At he says to Mr. Spencer, his History teacher, he feels trapped on "the other side" of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn't belong.

"Critics often classify The Catcher in the Rye as a quest story, but Holden's quest, if such it be, is aimless and incomplete... A self-proclaimed atheist, Holden inhabits a world where true transcendence can never be achieved. Yet longing for a heroic role, he dreams of being the "catcher in the rye" of saving "thousands of little kids" from plunging over the cliff into the abyss of adulthood. Only the dead like his younger brother Allie are safe. Heroes belong in coherent worlds of shared values and meaningful connections; Holden's world is the wasteland, all fragments and dead ends. Would-be heroes like Holden are "crazy mixed-up kids" who end up in California institutions" (St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

As previously stated teenagers enter into adulthood with at least a notion of who they are. High school is the perfect chapter in a teen's life to figure out whom they are and what exactly they want to do with that. Adolescents are at a point in life in which identity is the object of their quest. Their bodies are changing and they are experiencing increasing freedom from domestic and institutional restraints. The achievement of a meaningful answer to this lifelong pursuit is the burning challenge of adolescents. Having an identity - knowing who you are - gives adolescents a sense of control that allows them to navigate through the rest of life.

Without self-identities, they will be or do whatever they think others want. They will flounder from one way of acting to another. The quest for this identity is scary. Holden emphasizes this fear in the novel as Salinger allows us to read into his thoughts and skepticism. Somewhere between twelve and twenty years of age, adolescents are forced to choose once and for all what their identity is to be. It is a formidable task. Uncertain which of their mixed emotions are really their true feelings; they are pushed to make up their minds. Their confusion is complicated further when they begin to guess what others, whose opinions they care about, want them to be. In these ways, it is demonstrated how much of an average teenager Holden really is.

Holden struggles with his loneliness throughout the entire novel perhaps more so than anything else. He is constantly seeking a companion and intends to form one through almost manic, meaningless encounters. However, he demolishes any chances of companionship he may receive. An example of this occurrence is his date with Sally Hayes, an ex-girlfriend with who he attempts to rekindle their relationship. Throughout their date, he is intolerably rude and proceeds to talk about escaping with her to a cabin in Massachusetts or Vermont, so that they can spend the rest of their lives together. Holden likes to believe that he knows what he wants, but in reality he has no clue. He also believes he is ready for an adult relationship, but he is not even prepared to grow up.

Holden may sabotage any chances of love as a safety net. He consistently prides himself on his individuality and his loneliness secures that it stay intact. He feels isolated and wants someone by his side, but at the same time he is frightened because that is all he knows and he is not accustomed to change. He also feels as though is better than everyone else, and as though he cannot interact with anyone. The person he gets along with most is his little sister, Phoebe, and he insists that is because she is a child with innocence and sincerity.

Another aspect of love that Holden obsesses over is sex. As a 16-year-old virgin, sex perplexes, frightens, and intrigues him to an extreme. In the novel Holden admits that "sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't." (Chapter 9) when brought upon with opportunities to get physically and mentally intimate with another woman, Holden always backs out at the last moment. Changes in relationships would bring changes in Holden's life and Holden likes his life to be consistent because he is terrified of the future and losing his innocence.

"...The extreme discomfort and uneasiness that Holden feels toward all things physical. That this repulsiveness embraces sexuality is underscored not only by his own virginity (which is made more revealing by the fact that it is undesired) but also by his overly protective attitude towards females. Holden idealizes women and seeks to protect them from sexual knowledge and experience... It is, of course, Holden's subconscious fear of sexuality which explains his overly protective attitude toward children, particularly his sister Phoebe" (Hamblin).

Besides finding one's identity, a teenager will either simultaneously or following, hunt for love. A teenager fears loneliness and a lack of self-assurance more than almost anything. They stumble through a plentiful of wrong potentials in a dire search for "the one". They amble through different groups, friends, interests, experiences and phases. All this hard work to find oneself and the person they want at their side.

Just like Holden, many teens also extinguish possibilities of love for fear of rejection or heartbreak. One may ruin a chance at a relationship for fear of sharing one's self with that person, particularly if his or her identity is still in question. Also very similar to Holden, some teens are indeed obsessively afraid of sex. While that number may be decreasing rapidly due to earlier exposure, there are still those pure teenagers whose minds are jam-packed with sexual thoughts mixed in with hopes about love.

It is said that to love another human being, you must love yourself - particularly for who you really are. This can be the primary problem that Holden had in his quest for love; for without his identity, how can he love another person? Without your genuine identity, how can you find yourself loving another, and how can they come to love you?

The most identifiable characteristic readers and critics come across with Holden is his cynicism. His vivid way of expressing his discontent and judgment embraces readers worldwide. Holden is very quick to criticize nearly everything and anything. He judges people who are boring, insecure, selfish, promiscuous, and the top one of them all - phony. Holden becomes irritated with everyone and their phoniness and lack of caring. People who are too typical and conventional are a perfect example for Holden to critique.

Adults in particular, to Holden, are phony. He complains that adults are so phony that even they themselves cannot see it, thusly making them out to be hypocrites. He regards nearly everyone as shallow and pretentious, but fails to notice the phoniness in himself. This makes Holden one of the biggest hypocrites of them all.

"The irony, of course, is that Holden himself has already been contaminated by the world he despises. The child of affluent parents, he clearly enjoys the benefits their 'phony' world affords him. He spends money on taxi rides and nightclub visits, and even as he condemns lies and fakery, he himself lies and participates in the fakery. His is acquiring the survival skills that will allow him to operate in the fallen adult world..." (St. James).

This goes for many people especially teenagers. Many teens pride themselves on being "real" and not "fake", but they turn a deaf ear and close a blind eye to the reality that they themselves are phony as well. It is a part of the process of growing up. At one point or another, an individual has at least one moment of "phoniness." Holden denied that with all of his being.

"Holden becomes what he despises most, i.e., a submersion of a still naïve youth into a world of deceptions and corruption, and the even greater psychological turmoil that it fosters. Indeed, at this point Holden is in danger of losing himself completely, a consequence which is underscored by the closing in of his environment..." (Cartoni).

The novel occurs with Holden retelling his weekend of discoveries and how that inevitably brought him to a mental institution. To many, Holden would be considered to be slightly disturbed and in the novel he encounters many people who firmly believe that. The realization that Holden was a phony himself and that it was impossible to save all children from losing their innocence (and he himself was losing his own innocence) is what led him to self-destruct and have his nervous breakdown.

Though many will not admit it, people all over, of all kinds have moments of disturbia and/or cynicism. Everyone has or will have what is or may come close to a nervous breakdown. Everyone has or will feel crazy and disturbed at one point (at least) in their life. It is not only Holden who thinks or feels the way he does. Just because people do not necessarily say such things out loud does not mean they do not think it. Let's face it, everyone has a dark side and everyone has a "crazy" side; a more reckless and thought-provoking side.

People we consider geniuses have also been regarded as crazy. Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Einstein, Hitler, and Napoleon Bonaparte were all classified as sufficiently crazy at one time or another. Why? Because they dared to think differently and even more, they dared to show that to the world. They did not follow the conventional norm, as Holden claimed to have hated so much. Their high intelligence led them to success and fame yet their intriguing minds led them to criticisms and psychological analyses. Critics all over have done the same to Holden Caulfield.

If an average person had to write down their thoughts for every situation that came across their path, then eventually there would be negative thoughts. Eventually there would be angry, hypocritical, and perhaps even slightly delusional statements that a person cannot prevent their brain from formatting. If Holden Caulfield were a real person, there would be no doubt that people would believe he was right where he belonged in a mental hospital. But his unique thoughts and fresh critiques are what set him apart from the "conventional" teenager only because he is more open with them. Deep down, everyone is a Holden Caulfield, particularly teenagers when finding themselves.

Holden represents the world's population one way or another. Adolescents today tend to be rather complicated creatures with an almost desperate plea for others to pay them attention. It has not changed very much since Holden's time for in a way, he was the same.

"The total effect of The Catcher in the Rye is that life is delicate and frail; since it can be so easily destroyed, it should be more carefully nourished. The author behind the idea has obviously thought deeply about life, and has done in this novel what we may expect of the best art - namely, to give a new and challenging insight into life. Right or wrong, insights of this sort cannot be ignored; nor can The Catcher in the Rye be ignored" (Roberts).

Teenagers begin what becomes a lifelong quest of finding who they are, what they want to do with their lives, and whom they want by their side. In this case, Holden Caulfield is no different. Just like any other person, he wants a life that he can look back on and smile at. He wants a strong sense of self, a purpose, and someone to love, and most importantly, love him in return.