Holden Caulfield, Man Child

Holden Caulfield, Man Child: Holden's Desire to Grow Up and Remain a Child

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye follows the story of teenager Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield continually flunks out of various prep schools, upon having newly been booted from the prestigious Pencey Prep, Holden wanders around New York before coming home for Christmas vacation. Holden is somewhat intelligent despite failing every class, besides English, but overall very troubled. Holden is an unreliable narrator, sarcastic and rather nihilistic; He complains about everything, and has trouble accepting his older brother Allie's death. Throughout the story, Holden grapples with a desire to be more mature and viewed as an adult and the desire to remain innocent like a child. Holden attempts to enter the adult world by drinking, partying, and having sex, while he tries to remain like a child by joking around and having childish fantasies.

Holden spends a lot of time doing what he thinks adults do. He stays up late, parties, drinks, and attempts to have sex. Despite Holden continually telling the readers that he is "suave as hell" or bragging about his maturity, as an audience, we get the impression that he is neither of those things. Holden puts on a mature act and this makes him appear even more immature. Holden essentially plays pretend at being an adult and it is exactly what a teenager would try to do to look more mature. Holden tells us that he is the "biggest sex maniac" (81), but then admits to us later on that he is actually a virgin. Meanwhile Ackley constantly rants to Holden about how he could have had sex with this girl. He then changes the story to he did have sex with her, continually changing where the event took place. Ackley and Holden both put on a facade of acting like they know a lot about sex and that they are both sexually active. In reality, the only peer that Holden knows who actually is having sex is Stradlater. Stradlater also seems to have a much stronger morality complex and doesn't reveal his sexual exploits. Holden attempts to seem more mature by drinking. When he leaves Pencey and is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, the mother of one of his former classmates, he offers to get drinks for them. She remarks that he is not old enough to drink, but he plays it off saying that he has a lot of gray hair, is tall, and very mature for his age. Mrs. Morrow asks Holden, "Dear, are you allowed to order drinks?" Holden describes that this comment was not snotty because, "she was too charming to be snotty," (74-75). Mrs. Morrow politely declines Holden's offer saying that it is late and the car is probably closed, while this could be true, it seems like Mrs. Morrow is humoring Holden. She likely sees through his mature, flirtatious facade and does not view him as a man, but just a boy. Later on, Holden goes to the Lavender Room at the hotel where he again unsuccessfully tries to get an alcoholic drink. The bartender asks him for his drivers license and Holden tries to play it off saying, "Do I look like I'm under twenty-one?" (91). The bartender refuses to serve him, leading Holden to order a coke, but he keeps trying to get the bartender to put rum in it. This action that Holden views as an adult, ordering a drink, again demonstrates his immaturity. When asked for his drivers license, Holden tries to play it off acting like he looks like an adult. Finally, he gives up, but even then he tries to persuade the bartender to give him alcohol just like a kid begs for candy. He then tries to flirt and dance with three women, all of whom make fun of him for his immaturity.

Despite Holden's claim of being a "sex maniac" it seems like he is rather uninterested in sex, even though there have been a number of times he could have had sex. He could have slept with Jane Gallagher, Sally Hayes, or any other girl he dated. Even when he has a prostitute in his hotel room, he dismisses her sexual advances in favor of just wanting to talk to her. Holden's relationship with Sally seems on the whole much more physically driven than his relationship with Jane, however it seems it consists mostly of making out or "necking" not full on sex. Holden's relationship with Jane is very innocent like a first love. He admits that he and Jane never even really necked, sharing that there was only a single time where he comforted her by kissing her face, but didn't even really kiss her on the lips. Most of their relationship was spent playing tennis, golf, checkers, going to the movies, and holding hands. Holden is physically attracted to Jane, saying she had a great figure, but he never pressures her into sleeping with him. When Holden finds out that Stradlater is going out on a date with Jane he is viscerally angry. Holden is not only jealous that Stradlater is going out with Jane, but also worried that she will sleep with him, "It just drove me stark staring mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky's car. Every time I thought about it, I felt like jumping out the window," (63). This signals that Holden does want to sleep with Jane and can't stand the thought of someone else being with her. It is reasonable to infer that had Holden and Jane's relationship continued it could have progressed to them having sex. As previously mentioned, Holden is a virgin. The loss of virginity is often viewed as a step into adulthood, and Holden's lack of sexual experiences is an example of him remaining innocent.

While Holden attempts to act like an adult he simultaneously tries to remain a child. His attempts at being an adult alone are childish, but he also jokes around, dances, and sneaks around like a little kid. Holden is obsessed with knowing where the ducks go in the wintertime at a park when the pond freezes over. While the ducks fly away South, the fish remain in the pond. This also serves as a metaphor for Holden and his peers. Some of Holden's peers like Stradlater, are the ducks entering the adult world and flying away from childhood, while Holden is more like a fish. He just can't escape childhood and remains frozen in the pond. Throughout the story Holden talks about wanting to die and thinks about committing suicide, however he reasons with himself that he couldn't because of his kid sister Phoebe. Holden would feel guilty leaving Phoebe behind and doesn't want her to feel the way he felt after Allie's death. This could also mean that Holden does not want Phoebe to end up being like him. Holden also comes up with childish fantasies. He tells Sally Hayes that they could run away together to Vermont, and they could live in the woods in a cabin, and he could get a job as a lumberjack. When this gets crushed, he comes up with another fantasy that he will hitchhike out West, when Phoebe decides that she will come with him, Holden is knocked out of his childish delusion. Holden not only wants himself to remain a child, but also wants other children to not grow up. When Holden visits the elementary school and history museum he finds "fuck you's" written on the walls. Holden is disturbed by this and wishes he could find who wrote them and kill them or scratch them all off because he doesn't want any children to see it and learn what it means. This could also be taken metaphorically as life can hand you a lot of moments that serve as a "fuck you" and Holden does not want innocent children to feel the hardships of life. Lastly, Holden envisions himself as "the catcher in the rye". He imagines children playing in a rye field and trying to jump off a cliff, while he catches them ensuring that they don't fall. Holden catches the children from falling off into the mysterious abyss of adulthood, keeping them children forever. Finally at the end of the book, it seems Holden has adopted a more adult attitude. He takes Phoebe to the carousel and watches while she rides with the other adults. Phoebe and the other children try to grab the golden ring and Holden comes to the conclusion that you have to allow children to fall, "If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them," (274). Holden concludes that children will have to fall eventually and grow up.