Gold Always Goes

As everyone transitions into the new year, self reflection is inevitable. As years pass, humans try to grasp onto their youth and cling to it, hoping that although time may age, they won’t have to. Teenagers and young adults are constantly faced with having to leave behind the comfort and innocence, a topic often explored in literature (like bildungsromans) and coming-of-age movies. Having to grow up isn’t always wanted or welcomed, but it is something everyone must do eventually. This is explored in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” and the Twenty One Pilots song, “Stressed Out.” Although one may be saddened by coming of age (because of the changes that come with …show more content…
In the first two lines of Robert Frost’s poem, he puts it best that “Nature’s first green is gold / her hardest hue to hold” (Frost 1-2). By saying “first green,” Frost implies that there are more chapters to a life than just one. In Holden’s case, he wishes it to be only childhood, which is seen as “gold.” Childhood is valuable to everyone but often is the “hardest hue to hold,” meaning it slips away through fingertips and is quick to go. Even though there are more chapters and more “greens,” Holden doesn’t want them. He discusses this when he first visits Phoebe, but comes to a new realization that he has to let go and grow up when he sees her on the carousel toward the end of the novel. Holden describes the scene: “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and 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 them do it, and not say anything” (Salinger 232). This is how Holden accepts that he must come of age. Seeing Phoebe and all of the other kids grab for the gold ring (despite being scared that they’d fall off) makes him accept that he, too, must take risks like the children and finally grow up. He learned from his sister that he couldn’t be scared, sad, or overwhelmed by change, but instead embrace it. This is shown at the very end of the book as he mulls over his experiences he told the reader about, when he realizes that there’s still a lot to look forward to also, like for instance “going back to school next September” (Salinger 234). He has embraced the idea of the new parts of his life that were to come in the future and pushed forward in his character