8 Sentence Paragraph on Characterization in The Catcher in the Rye

J.D. Salinger reveals in the novel The Catcher in the Rye that the difficult process of maturing into adulthood is a necessary and unavoidable part of life that reveals inevitable truths about human nature through the characterization of the main character, Holden. Holden is a troubled teenage boy who constantly struggles with the idea of leaving the innocence of his youth because he begins to see the corruption of the adult world. Holden shows he needs to attain closure to his childhood and innocence before he can move on to adult life when he writes “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse (1). In his attempts to “say goodbye” to his childhood, Holden throws himself into an adult life in which he is forced to leave the innocence of childhood. The struggling teen is caught in a struggle between leaving his youth and entering adulthood and therefore feels he needs to “catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff— I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (22).Holden feels he needs to take the responsibility of protecting the innocence of children, such as his sister Phoebe, in hopes that they do not fall off the cliff into adulthood such as he was forced to do. Near the end of the novel, Holden begins to accept maturing into an adult is unavoidable and though making the transition into adulthood can be troubling and frightening, he realizes it is a necessary step one has to take. By showing readers the changes and choices one has to make from childhood to adulthood in The Catcher in Rye, J.D. Salinger reveals growing up is a difficult time in which one is force to come cold realizations of adult life.