Through out the last three chapters we began to see more of the real Holden. Based off of events in the book thus far it is really difficult to classify Holden as entirly a child or an adult because he demonstes many charateristics of both. The amount of freedom Holden has, being able to take care of himself in New York with out his parents knowledge, is huge compared to the amount of freedom sixteen year olds recieve in most cases. Having so much freedom has helped Holden gain some sense concerning reality, the imperfections of life. While on the other hand Holden's pathetic line of insults at Stradlater followed by the multiple bad choices he makes in the city showcase his immaturity. From his recent actions, flirting with women, smoking, atempting to obtain alcohal, ect coud led people to believe he wants to grow up faster. However i don't think Holden wants to grow up at all. When looking back at what we've read so far every adult or organization run by adults Holden has been able to find some pproblem with (phony). In fact the only people in the book he has nothing bad to say about are his little brother Allie, his little sister Phobe, and his once good friend Jane. This shows Holden views childhood in a positive light and adulthood in a negative light. One reason could be loss of innocence. I think Holden believes the world of adulthood is a tainted place and prefers the carefree world of kids. However after Allie's death Holden changed in a lot of ways and all of his searching led him to question if he still contains own innocence once hes suffered such a tragic event. His own self doubt in the matter is part of what drives him to protect thoose he knows that are innocent like Jane from Strdalater. But then i have a question for Holden; if Holden atempts to act older and displays some knowledge beyond his years does it make his desire to protect the ignorance of kiddies an ironic one?
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Child vs Adult
Through out the last three chapters we began to see more of the real Holden. Based off of events in the book thus far it is really difficult to classify Holden as entirly a child or an adult because he demonstes many charateristics of both. The amount of freedom Holden has, being able to take care of himself in New York with out his parents knowledge, is huge compared to the amount of freedom sixteen year olds recieve in most cases. Having so much freedom has helped Holden gain some sense concerning reality, the imperfections of life. While on the other hand Holden's pathetic line of insults at Stradlater followed by the multiple bad choices he makes in the city showcase his immaturity. From his recent actions, flirting with women, smoking, atempting to obtain alcohal, ect coud led people to believe he wants to grow up faster. However i don't think Holden wants to grow up at all. When looking back at what we've read so far every adult or organization run by adults Holden has been able to find some pproblem with (phony). In fact the only people in the book he has nothing bad to say about are his little brother Allie, his little sister Phobe, and his once good friend Jane. This shows Holden views childhood in a positive light and adulthood in a negative light. One reason could be loss of innocence. I think Holden believes the world of adulthood is a tainted place and prefers the carefree world of kids. However after Allie's death Holden changed in a lot of ways and all of his searching led him to question if he still contains own innocence once hes suffered such a tragic event. His own self doubt in the matter is part of what drives him to protect thoose he knows that are innocent like Jane from Strdalater. But then i have a question for Holden; if Holden atempts to act older and displays some knowledge beyond his years does it make his desire to protect the ignorance of kiddies an ironic one?
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i don't think he classifies people like that... as in, i don't believe that he thinks that all adults are phonies, just that a lot of them are. i also think that he hasn't really thought about whether or not he wants to grow up, because he still hasn't gotten over things that have happened a while ago. I believe that this is because he's in a point of transition, and doesn't know where else he could ever be at this point in time.
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