Holden's Coming Of Age Analysis

Holden’s Coming of Age
Throughout the story Holden has been given many opportunities to show his mature side. He helped children by marking out the graffiti at his sister's school. He also talked to his sister about wanting to be The Catcher in the Rye is because he wants to help kids who are rushing into their adulthood and not enjoying their childhood. He wants to catch them before they make the jump into adulthood. Holden himself is a very unique character. He occasionally shows that he cares even though it is thought that he doesn’t care about anything. Holden often tries to hide his nice side in order to portray as if he doesn’t care. All of these are shown in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger he goes into detail to …show more content…
At the end of Holden’s paper he wrote a note that says “I know this paper is trash, so don’t feel bad about flunking me”. Again with Holden’s trait of acting like he doesn’t care Holden actual likes Mr. Spencer. However, he does get annoyed with Mr. Spencer after he starts throwing paper into a trash can and missing and Holden has to get off Mr. Spencer’s uncomfortable bed. Mr. Spencer does this a couple of times before Holden decides to leave. On Holden’s way out of Mr. Spencer’s room, he hears him say something, but you can’t quite make out what he exactly said. But what he thinks Mr. Spencer said was “Good Luck”. After this Holden returns to the dormitory where we are introduced to his neighbor Ackley and his roommate Stradlater. During his time here, Holden hears about Stradlater date with Jane Gallagher, a girl who Holden used to date and still has slight feelings for. During the time of Holden hearing of this, he grows nervous about their date and when Stradlater returns Holden questions him about the date. Holden wants to know if Stradlater had or tried to have sex with Jane. This is another example of Holden cared about something though he …show more content…
Although she declines his offer it shows that Holden still has some growing to do to become an adult. After Holden hangs up on Faith, Holden goes down to Lavender Room in the hotel. He sits at the bar, but the bartender realizes that Holden is a minor and refuses to serve him. Although this seems small it has a greater meaning as the story purpose later on. After the bartender refuses to serve Holden he begins to flirt and dance with three older women. He begins to feel a sense of “Fake Love” with one of the women after he sees how well she dances. After Holden reveals to the women how old he is the three women leave making Holden responsible for the bill. Afterwards, Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane Gallagher and, in a flashback, recounts how he got to know her. This shows how Holden is reflecting upon things that he has done when he was a child. This shows how Holden is starting to understand that he is growing up. He begins to reminisce about his childhood and he begins to remember how he had meet Jane. He remembers how they played golf, checkers, and held hands at the movies. He remembers how one day when they were playing checkers and her father came on the ponch and when he left she began to start crying. Holden had moved to sit beside her and comfort her. This is a great example of how Holden really care about things even though he tries to hide it. He kissed her all over her face but, she wouldn’t let him