A Strugle Through Life

Holden is 16 years old, but sometimes acts like a 12 year old. Holden is struggling to hold on to his childhood. His body is desperately telling

Holden’s childlike behavior also reveals his romantic side. Holden is a dreamer, often fantasizing the things he strongly believes. The first example is the report he writes for Stradlater. He writes his report on Allie’s baseball mitt which shows that Holden has a poetic imagination. Following this, he gets into a scuffle with his Stradlater which fascinates him: "You never saw such gore in your life… It partly scared me and it partly fascinated me. All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I'd only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I'm not too tough. I'm a pacifist, if you want to know the truth. (pg. 45-46)” Holden also vamps into a tough guy fantasy when he gets roughened up by Maurice. He fantasizes about being shot and seeks revenge. “About halfway to the bathroom, I sort of stared pretending I had a bullet in my guts. Old Maurice had plugged me. (pg. 104)” Holden also expresses his imaginations through the lies that he tells. Often making up names for himself when talking to other people. His interest for the book The Great Gatsby shows that he is a romantic because he admires the romantic character James Gatsby. Holden’s fantasies help him deal with physical brutalities. Holden’s fantasies also connect to his feelings towards realists.

When Holden wanders the city he is confronted by several realists. Unlike Holden these people are practical and have a sense of purpose. However, Holden labels all of them as phonies. The only people he trusts and respects are Allie, Phoebe and Mr. Antolini. Everyone else is a phony of some sort. Holden labels Sally Hayes as the queen of phonies because everything is “marvelous” and “lovely” for her. Holden hates Sally for that fact that she won’t just take risks and live life on the edge by getting married, but Sally is realistic and thinks about what will happen in the future and the hardships that they will have to go through. Holden even rejects Ernie because he’s to skillful. He automatically associates skill with arrogance and thus can’t separate the two. Holden thinks that majority of the people are putting on some sort of act to impress or befriend people. However Holden strongly contradicts himself. Holden himself can be labeled as a phony for the simple fact that he does the opposite in what he believes in. For example he is taking a step forward to adulthood and experience by indulging in several dates with women, which puts him at risk with the possibility of a sexual intercourse. He also fantasizes about the loving couples and the transvestite at the motel. "Sometimes I can think of very crumby stuff I wouldn't mind doing if the opportunity came up. I can even see how it might be quite a lot of fun, in a crumby way, and if you were both sort of drunk and all, to get a girl and squirt water or something all over each other's face. The thing is, though, I don't like the idea. It stinks, if you analyze it. (pg. 62)" Sex is the adversary for the innocence of young children.

Holden also has confusion with death. Death is continually implied by the presence of Allie’s spirit. When Holden fears for his own existence, he speaks to Allie. There are several times when Holden feels like he is going to disappear. When walking to Mr. Spencer’s house Holden becomes terribly cold. The cold weather symbolizes Ho

Some topics in this essay:
Adulthood Holden, Luce Holden, Sally Hayes, Holden Caulfield, Holden Holden, Wilhelm Stekel, Symbolically Phoebe, James Castle, Rudolf Schmidt, Holden Jane, innocence experience, james castle, grab gold, adult world, grab gold ring, gold ring, childhood adulthood, wise advisors aid, holden innocence, holden believes, innocence holden, holden strives, death james castle,