John Connolly said, “For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.” The author shows that there is no escaping juvenility nor adulthood, because it will always linger within one, demonstrating the oblivion of boyhood and being an adult. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, a teenager named Holden is in constant conflict with adulthood and childhood. He quits school and runs away to hopefully mold himself into an adult. As Holden wanders through the city of phonies, he embarks new experiences, changing his way of thinking. Holden craves to become an adult, but his childhood pulls him back, which constantly deprives him of growing up. Salinger uses Holden to show the …show more content…
As a child to a young adult, he puts on his hat to seek comfort when distressed from the outside world or feels anxious. Holden states, "I pulled the peak of my red hunting hat around to the front all of a sudden, for a change. I was getting all nervous all of a sudden. I'm quite a nervous guy." ( ). This quote shows Holden wearing the hat because he was becoming nervous. The red hunting hat represents his childhood, which is what he is holding on to. The hat is his protection from the outside world. Holden grabs the hat unconsciously after he feels nervous or scared, giving him a sense of escaping people and problems .The hunting hat plays as a symbol of the battle between adulthood and childhood because he cannot let go of his childhood. This shows that the world of being a child is holding back because he places the hat on his head multiple time throughout the story. Holden is still stuck between becoming an …show more content…
Holden looks for his sister, so he heads to the museum to find her, but he has second thoughts. Holden says, “When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks it” (Salinger 136). This shows Holden doesn't want to step foot into the museum because it doesn't appeal to him anymore. The reader can depict that he is afraid that the museum has changed. Change is his greatest fear throughout the book. This stops him from becoming an adult because he doesn't want to face alteration in the museum. As a boy, he loves the museum and if he witnesses a difference, it might set him over the edge. Holden wants to preserve his childhood. The museum acts as an obstacle because he knows that to become mature, he needs to face his greatest fears. It seems as if, he lets fear control his life, and not face them head