Holden Caulfield's monologue in The Catcher in the Rye is an examination of one boy's struggle of entering into adulthood. He is a classic screw up with no goals, just as Stradlater, his roommate at Percey, states; "you don't do one damn thing the way you'resupposed to" (Salinger 41). It is really Holden's avoidance of having to grow up and his fears related to it. It is because of Holden's fears the he becomes so full of despair and loneliness and is often nauseated by the world around him (Lunquist 38-9).

He continually puts himself into situations that only lead to his personal pain or revulsion, and then brood on them repetitively after. He could in some respects be defined as a masochist. Holden dwells in the past, obsessing over his dead brother Allie, and his former classmate at Elkton Hills, James Castle. He often goes places he should not be, or only going there to serve the purpose of depressing him. Holden though he has no true desire to talk to certain people, he often out of loneliness calls them anyway (42).

It is probably because of Holden's masochistic tendencies, that his favorite story in the bible is about "Legion," a "lunatic that lived in the t

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause,while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one" (Salinger 188).

"'I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything.' The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let the do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them (211)."

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown & Co. Boston: 1951

Holden goes to the museum to meet with Phoebe to say goodbye, while waiting for her though something happens. Holden, always interested in the ancient Egyptians' secret of preservation, goes to the mummies' tomb. It is this room, that from his childhood, that has never changed. On the wall though written in red crayon, a symbol of childhood, is an obscenity of adulthood, "Fuck you"(204). After seeing that, Holden feels that there is no place that you can go that is nice and peaceful. He is soon over come by a feeling of sickness and goes to the bathroom, where he passes out and falls to the ground. It is this fall that represents his fall from childhood into adulthood. He even says how lucky he was that he did not kill himself, he does not exactly understand why. Holden does say though that he feels better after falling, in other word he achieved a release.

It is Holden's despair over obscenities that he sees all around him that send him into a self-destruction spiral, that in the end eventually lead to his redemption. To him, his dead brother Allie and his little sister Phoebe represent innocence. That childhood is a source of goodness in human life. Adulthood is the end of goodness the beginning of destruction and evil in one's life (43-4).

Holden though sees himself as the catcher, risking his life to protect others from the "crazy cliff," what he is really trying to do though is denying it by refusal and wishing to prevent others from growing up. He feels as if he is a "savior," sacrificing himself to preserve what he feels to be good and innocent.

ombs and kept cutting himself with stones," as to described himself (Salinger). Like "Legion," Holden possesses many demons, those of fate and death, emptiness and meaningless

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Approximate Word count = 1603
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)