Holden Caulfield Adulthood

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A few years ago the NY Times published an article called “The Case for Delayed Adulthood” which explained the importance of adolescence and why the transition to adulthood is starting to be at a later age. Holden Caulfield is the epitome of a person’s delayed entrance into adulthood and prolonged adolescence. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden attempts to hold onto his innocence for as long as possible so that he doesn’t need to enter into the adult world. This may seem silly to some people; however this NY Times article proves that what seems like Holden’s childish behavior is actually helpful to his existence. The period of adolescence is crucial to a person’s character and if exposed to stressful or traumatic events the effects could be …show more content…
This article argues that there was not really a teenage culture in Holden’s time period therefore a big piece of his adolescence, which can contribute to Holden not developing new skills because of this lack of adolescence time. Holden tried to hold onto his innocence and make up for lost time in his childhood; however, Holden did not challenge himself in school, so he might have left the adolescent stage earlier than he thought. According to the New York Times article, a person can prolong their adolescence “as long as their environment gives them continued stimulation and increasing challenges.” These variables that extend this crucial period normally present themselves through education, which is something that Holden does not put effort into. He fails out of several schools because he does not try in his classes except for english therefore his brain is not being use very often. These two articles processed together really question if Holden has transitioned out of the adolescent stage …show more content…
All of his schoolmates are privileged children who have a narrow view of the world, even though he is rich too, his view of the world was so different that’s why he considered them as phony. Holden would be considered an outsider according to Paul Clement’s article “Outsiderdom” because an outsider defined by Victor Turner is voluntary setting oneself apart from the behavior of society. Some anthropologists such as Arnold Van Gennep think that during a liminal phase, that all adolescents pass through, they remove themselves from society to find their true selves. Holden removed himself from society for a long time, isolating himself from all people; however, he never finds his true self during the
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