Friday, October 14, 2011
Growing Up
Everyone at one point in their life must grow up, whether they are ready or not. Holden in "The Catcher and the Rye" has troubles letting go of his innocence and tries to keep it by holding on the his little sister innocence. In my life I have had a few experiences where I had to grow up when I wasn't necessarily ready. Growing up is a part of life, you have to learn to let go and move on, which is sometimes the hardest thing to do. Holden's tries to act like an adult which sometimes ironically makes him more juvenile. Holden's troubles with failing out of school, drinking, and sex ultimately make him more of a child because he doesn't know how to handle the situations that he is dealing with. I have not been in the situations that Holden has put himself in, however I have had to deal with acting an adult when it was needed. All people at one point must be the adult in situations where no one else volunteers to set up. Children will be children but all children have to be accepted into society at one point to be respected, and sometimes it is before the child is an actual adult much like Holden.
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I never thought of it that way. I see what you mean when you say Holden is actually being more immature when he tries to act older. He is basically lying when he acts older and fakes people into thinking he is old and mature. I think Holden struggles to let go of his innocence, because it means he is growing up, which depresses him. He confuses me when he lies and says he is older though, considering he does not want to lose his innocence. Holden faces problems like flunking out of school, drinking, relationships, and sex. He does not know how to handle these problems because he is too young and immature to deal with them. I think part of the reason Holden acts like an adult and takes adult actions is because he was kind of forced out into society on his own at a young age. He does not really have his parents watching after him, guarding him from society, and keeping him innocent. He was pushed out into the world on his own, forcing him to deal with mature situations. At some point, everyone does have to grow up, but Holden just happened to grow up a little sooner than most because of his parents decision to send him to boarding school alone.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Holden is trying obsessed with innocence, but I dis agree when you say he is trying to hold on to his own innocence by holding on to his sister. I think he doesn’t like to be around phonies and the only proplr that are not phonies are those people that he sees as innocents. I never looked at it that way and you make a very good point that the more he tries to act like an adult the more he seems like a child. This honestly happens to a lot of kids trying to grow up. One more point that I do not agree with is that all children have to be accepted into society. This may be what is “normal” but not everybody is accepted due to some of the standers that or society puts on children and how they should act or their behavior
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point about how Holden tries to hold on to his own innocence by holding onto his sisters. I can kind of see that but then again it is hard for me to understand it. I don't know if I completely agree with that. I feel that Holden just really loves his little sister and really cares for her. I also think that he is extremely proud of her. I just don't think he is holding onto her innocence. I think that he doesn't want to grow up because of the things that Phoebe has at such a young age. As proud as Holden is of Phoebe, I think he is also a little bit jealous of everything that Phoebe has and she is only a kid and I think that is the reason why he isn't as grown up as he should be.
ReplyDeleteKatie while I agree with you that people need to grow up eventually. I feel that a person can never lose that ability to still be a child at heart because if a person loses the capability to enjoy life and act childish at times in their life they may miss out on some very fun opportunities to enjoy what they are doing and who they are doing it with. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that we need to act like 5 year olds 24-7. However when the opportunity permits we should take the opportunity to act like that 5 year old, I also feel that those people that lose the ability to act childish at the correct moments have lost a very large part of themselves, of who they used to be. I do however agree that people do need to grow up, however when we grow up we should be able to turn off the serious adult persona when the time permits for the child in all of us to have fun.
ReplyDeleteJL