Horomones raging, emotions changing, and futures yet to be decided, the life of a teenager is very stressful. What is she doing with her life? Where will he go to school? How will they figure out their future? The stress piles up and eventually leads to a mental break down. Every teenager just wants to stay young and not have to deal with the harsh realities of the real world of growing up. Through out A Catcher in the Rye Holden goes through this crazy emotional roller coaster and the clutch on childhood that represents the life of a universal teenager.
For one thing though, im sure that the average teen is not as depressed as Holden is. Everyone has their depressing times in life, but they eventually are followed up with happy times. It seems as if every time Holden speaks he is depressed about something different. He is depressed about flunking out of another school, dissapointing his parents, and life in general. He can not let go of Allie, he is indecisive about girls, and he can not let go of his childhood. When Holden is looking around Phoebe's room he finds her notebook, "I sat there on D.B.'s desk and read the whole notebook. It didnt take me long, and I can read that kind of stuff, somne kind's notebook, Phoebe 's or anybody's, all day and all night long. Kid's nmotebooks kill me" (J.D. Salinger 161. This passage is an example of Holden still holding onto his childhood. He loves everything that has to do with kids and childhood because he doesnt want to let go of his own childhood. Maturity takes place through out the teen years for the most part, but we all have times when we dont want to grow up and be a responsible mature adult we are expected to be. When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do woth his life he says, "What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff....That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all" (J.D. Salinger 173). This proves that Holden is clinging to his childhood and memories from the past. He doesn't want to mature and be a grown up with a real job and stable future. his independence of being able to support himself with a job and education is out of his mind. In a way every teenager is like Holden maybe not as extreme emotionally, but similar in a way.
