Catcher In The Rye Maturity Analysis

J. D. Salinger explores the theme of immaturity vs. maturity in The Catcher in the Rye, exemplifying this discord through an internal conflict of the narrator Holden Caulfield. Salinger consistently characterizes Caulfield as a teenager rebellious against the common banalities that entail the responsibilities and duties of being an adult in everyday English society. Particularly, Salinger articulates Caulfield’s disapproval of the societal expectations of adults through the word “phony” and its respective variations. For instance, Salinger notes that “one of the biggest reasons [Caulfield] left Elkton Hills was because [he] was surrounded by phonies. That’s all” (Salinger 19). By utilizing the “surrounded” and “that’s all”, Salinger emphasizes that the “phonies” that encircle Caulfield’s life pose as a problem so enlarged that it consumes the whole of his thoughts. As such, Salinger constantly reminds the reader of Caulfield’s refusal to “grow up” through the stream of consciousness narration that flows that connotes Caulfield’s criticism for the adult world with an apparent phoniness in the individuals that inhabit this.
Specifically, the Museum of National History embodies Caulfield’s resistance to maturity and to adulthood itself. Yet, in this location, Caulfield only exists as a passerby as he watches from the outside into this world that he does not reside in. Thus, Salinger allows the question of if Caulfield fails to experience the process of transitioning from child to adult, does he prevail as someone in a state somewhere in between? If so, is it for his own