![]() ![]() He sees Phoebe as the perfect person, someone uninfluenced by the adult world, which he thinks has a corrupting influence. Holden’s affinity for children is made evident by the way he talks about his little sister, Phoebe. As Holden vacillates between romanticizing youth and imitating maturity, then, Salinger presents a study of a young man who has trouble simply living in his own skin, and suggests that both resisting adulthood and forcing oneself to grow up before one is truly ready are detrimental to an individual’s development. To that end, it is precisely because he disastrously thrusts himself into adult situations that he comes to fear maturity so much. Interestingly enough, these unsuccessful forays into the adult world ultimately force Holden into situations that make him seem even more immature than he should be at his age. At the same time, though, he frequently tries to present himself as much older than he actually is, posturing as an adult even when it’s obvious that he’s a teenager. Consequently, he not only dreams about protecting children from the trials and tribulations of growing up, but also resists his own process of maturation. Thinking that children are still untainted by the “phony,” hypocritical adult world, he wishes there were a way to somehow preserve the sense of honest integrity that he associates with childhood. This is why the characters he speaks most fondly about in the novel are all children. A 16-year-old who is highly critical of the adult world, Holden covets what he sees as the inherent purity of youth. ![]() ![]() The Catcher in the Rye is a portrait of a young man at odds with the process of growing up. ![]()
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