For what reasons does Holden Caulfield seek out and attempt to fit in the adult world? Where and
amongst whom does he carry out this quest and to what extent is he successful?
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel of J.D Salinger. It is a very interesting novel that narrates the story of a 16
year old boy, whose name is Holden, and who is obsessed with girls, smoking, drinking and sex. He studies in
a school called Pency and he gets expelled from his school. He decides to go to New York to a hotel for a few
days because he can't go home until Christmas vacation starts; so he goes to a hotel and decides to go around
New York at night. He meets some girls, and when he comes back to the hotel Maurice, the elevators, asks
him to have a night with a prostitute. Holden has a fight with Maurice because of the money he is supposed to
pay. The next day Holden checks out of the hotel and leaves his suitcases in the station and while he is having
breakfast he meets two nuns. He meets Sally Hayes and go together to the theatre but it didn't end up well, so
the next night he meets an old friend called Luce and go for a drink. Holden gets really drunk and decides to
go home to see his sister Phoebe. He gets in and talks to her sister for a while and tells her that he has decided
to leave to another place. Holden stays for that night in the house of an old teacher. The next morning he sees
her sister who decides to go with him but he refuses but at the end he decides to come back home and stay
with his parents.
Holden gets out of the school because he wants to fit in the adult world and not only to fit in it but to see how
it looks like and it fells to be like an adult. So he just wants to pretend to be older and to do what adults are
supposed to do but he is not enough prepared because actually he is a teenager not an adult, so he gets sacred
in many situations such as: when he is in the hotel and Maurice hits him because he wouldn't give him the
money, so he just starts crying; in that moment he shows immaturity. You can tell that he does not fit very
well in the adult world in that moment.
Holden suffered the death of his little brother Allie. They used to get on with very well and all so when Allie
dies, Holden goes really crazy and he punches all the windows in the basement and breaks his right hand: he
goes really mad because they used to do lots of things together and Holden describes him as a very
intellectual, smart and great brother. Her mum also gets very upset with Allie's death. His life was much better
and happier before (he used to play crackers with Jane and they used to have a lot of fun together). Holden is
always looking in his past life because he is feeling very lonely so to keep a little bit of happiness he looks at
his past life.
Holden goes to many different places to try to fit in the adult world. Firstly, he decides to stay in a hotel and
goes out in the night to look for girls to stay with, but he only finds 3 really ugly girls who are stupid so he
leaves and goes to another place where he meets a friend of his old brother D.B, but he just goes back to the
hotel where he accepts the idea of being with a prostitute but he really doesn't want his services because he
just wants somebody to talk to. He also goes to the train station where he meets two nuns who are very nice
and then he goes to the theatre, ice skating with Sally; to another pub with Luce where he gets really drunk
and to Central Park.
He finds out that the adult world can be dangerous sometimes (when he fights with Maurice) and also is not
that safe because people is very phony and never act the way they say; adults are really fake and just act
because of interest.
He doesn't fit in the adult world because he is very immature and he actually is not an adult. He tries to fit in
the adult world but he doesn't succeed because he is obsessed in asking women out and in having sex and all
that stuff which is quite immature, he also acts as if he was older asking for alcoholic drinks, and acting as if
he were 30 years old but he actually doesn't fit in it; he doesn't fit in the teenage world either because he
thinks that everyone is so phony so he just talks to adults who really don't have any interest in him.
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In conclusion, I think that in the book Catcher in the Rye of J.D Salinger; Holden Caulfield tries so hard to fit
in the adult world that he gets obsessed with that idea and just commits so many immature actions and
pretends to be older than what he actually is and thinks that the adult world is easy but he finds out that adults
are very fake and would do the contrary thing of what the would tell you. He also doesn't have any friends and
feels so lonely that he is all the time looking back at his past when he used to have more fun and that is what
keeps him happy. Holden is always thinking in dating a girl or he is also quite coward because he always
thinks of doing lots of things such as phoning Jane or before his with Stradlater, he thinks of going to say
hello to her but he would never do it. To sum up, I say that Holden Caulfield doesn't fit in the adult world
because of the many things I have said, but he doesn't fit in the teenage world either.
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