Growing up can be a big change in someone’s life and it is hard to let go of the past, especially your childhood. Growing up to become an adult can be very stressful to some people and comes with a large number of responsibilities. “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger accurately shows how a regular college boy has difficulties growing up. Holden Caulfield attended Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania. He was failing all of his classes except English. This was no because he did not understand the subject, but how he did not understand his teachers and how they were teaching. He was expelled from school and instead of going home, he stays in a hotel in New York City. There, he encounters many problems including his past life. It is evident that Holden still acts like a child. He is not letting go of his childhood life. This is because of his younger brother dying when he was a young teen. Holden never got closure and never left childhood.
“The Catcher in the Rye” shows how growing up can be a tough thing to do. You must be willing to take on full responsibilities and never quit trying to achieve your dreams. Holden has stress dealing with his loss of his brother. His sister lives in New York City as well and he does not want to lose her too. He treats her like a baby always trying to protect her. Holden wants to protect his sister but is causing damage to himself. He is a heavy smoker and drinker even though he is not legally able to drink. This shows how Holden tries to be an adult and be a good older brother but cannot succeed without changing himself. As in life, you must fix yourself before fixing others and that is Holden’s problems. In my everyday life, I fix many of my own mistakes but also get help from others. I cannot help others though if I don’t know how to fix it myself.
Holden finally realizes that bad things must happen to others and when they fix it themselves, they get the skills to help them forever. He learns this by watching his sister, Phoebe, riding the carousel. When she leaned on the horse to try to touch its head, she almost fell. Holden tried to help her but he did not do go ahead. He stopped and watch Phoebe fix herself back on the horse. This finally made Holden realize that there are going to be downsides in life such as his brother’s death. The bright side is when you pick yourself up and keep walking the difficult path of life, just as Phoebe picked herself up from almost falling off the horse.
This book has taught me about how important it is to take challenges but also that it is ok to fail sometimes. It is important to see others fail and people close to you fail. The most important thing is to see everyone stand back up and keep pushing further. You must be willing to learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward just has Holden finally realized. He wanted to be a “Catcher in the Rye” which means he wanted to save others who have fallen but this is a problem because you must let others fix their problems and you must fix your problems before fixing others.
The book appealed to me because it shows what many people’s problems are. Many people do not keep moving and stay back. Moving forward leads to getting closer to your end goal and that is what makes you the best. Not many people reach their goal because of roadblocks. They try to take the easy way out and hide. As Holden did, he hid in a hotel room trying to not face his parents because he flunked college. Hiding from your problems leads to more problems being created. Others will try to find you and you will just end up with more stress and violence towards you. You have to think positive in life. I always look at the bad situation and try to find the good in them. If I failed a test, I look at what I did well on and try to fix it. Even though Holden finally realized to grow up and act his age responsibly, he still has moments of childhood but finds the good things growing up like not wonying about the next new action figure coming out. You can obviously solve and fix eveiy problem in life, but is fine to try to. Holden has a cursing problem and thinks everyone is a phony. Even though he solved his biggest problem, he still has small problems. I see that in everyday life. 1 finish one problem but that was just the beginning. New problems are made every day and the only way to control them is to solve them. It takes time but the reward is worth it.
This book make you think about what normal is and how we can face our similar problems. We all had trouble in the past but it is time to face the new road ahead and face the many obstacles life has to offer. Today is the first day of the rest of your life and it is time to start. This book made me realize what good things others offer to you but it means nothing if you never achieve the goal yourself. You must be willing to use energy to change yourself to become successful in life. Holden realized this and is in the process but he would have never figured it out if he never realized his problems. It took his sister to almost fall of a carousel and some good persuasion from her to get some sense into him. It connects to every person’s life because everyone has their own problems they need to face and they can’t help you until they solve it themselves. Phoebe has already gotten over her brother dying but has never forgotten him. It takes time and energy to succeed in life and face your problems.
Abhinav lllendula