The Valuable Lessons on the Journey of Maturity in The Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J. D. Salinger

“Maturity comes from expertise, not age” (Ziad K. Abdelnour). The coming of age story, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger requires some of life’s most valuable lessons like overcoming adversities and the journey of maturity and wraps them all up into one particular novel.. Holden Caulfield endures more than most children his age would in 1 weekend. As an alternative of heading residence right after his expulsion from prep school, he goes into New York City for a couple of days. There, he tries to reconnect with old pals and he goes places that evoke old memories. He also finds himself caught in some hard situations exactly where he comes face to face with his values. Every single of these situations teaches him some thing that he will later advantage from. When Holden is forced to step back and reflect on what happened, he ultimately learns the lessons that he did not see at the time. Holden realizes that he shouldn’t take issues for granted even though finding out more about himself and his moral compass.

Ahead of Holden leaves Pencey, he goes to say goodbye to his teacher, Mr. Spencer, who tries to warn him about his future.

“Do you really feel totally no concern for your future, boy?”

“Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all proper. Confident. Certain, I do.”

I thought about it for a minute. “But not also much, I guess.”

“[…] You will, boy. You will when it is also late.” (Salinger 20)

Mr. Spencer is 1 of numerous who tries to warn Holden about this hole he’s digging for himself. If he continues this way, he’s putting his future in jeopardy. Holden’s teacher fears Holden will realize his error also late and won’t be capable to fix it. Holden is taking his education at Pencey for granted but he does not see it that way. At the time, Holden is not capable to grasp the complete which means of what his teacher is attempting to tell him. Even so, when Holden finally gets aid, he is in a position to lastly take in not only what happened that weekend, including his conversation with Mr. Spencer. “D.B. asked me what I believed about all this stuff I just completed telling you about. I didn’t know what the hell to say… About all I know is, I sort of miss everyone I told about”. A running theme throughout Holden’s story is taking things for granted. Holden says he misses everybody he talked about which ties into that theme. In a way, he took their company for granted, only to comprehend that once he lastly gets support. A lesson that Holden presumably learns from this reflection and realization is to not take things for granted.

All through Holden’s time in New York, he learns far more about himself and his morals. When Holden is presented with the opportunity to have a prostitute meet with him, he is faced with his morals about respect as nicely as his “sex rules”. “‘Look,’ I said. ‘I do not really feel very considerably like myself tonight. I’ve had a rough evening. Truthful to God. I’ll spend for you and all, but do you thoughts extremely much if we don’t do it?’ […] The problems was, I just didn’t want to do it”. When the option initially was offered to Holden, he jumped at the likelihood to take it, hoping to get “practice” in. Nonetheless, when the time came to actually carry out his intention, he rescinded and does not comply with via with what he mentioned he would do. Holden chose not to stick to by means of simply because it would go against his values to get intimate with a girl without having caring for her. When he is in the sanitarium Holden comes to understand that not following by way of is one thing he has a tendency of performing.He mentions this when one particular of his psychoanalysts asks himabout college. “I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? The answer is, you do not. I believe I am, but how do I know?”. Holden learns by reflecting on his experiences that one can not constantly know for confident what they will do or how they will react in a given situation, just as he believed that he would obtain sexual encounter from his time with the prostitute but when it came time to finally doing it, he chose not to pursue the opportunity. He did not know that he would react this way when he initially accepted the offer you. Holden learns by reflecting on this particular encounter that decisions can be made impulsively but his morals will constantly be one thing that influence selection making.

Although Holden benefitsfrom reflecting on his own story, the reader can also benefit from seeing what he went via. I found that I was able to learn some of the exact same lessons that he did. For example, it was simple to relate to Holden realizing he took some folks who utilised to be in his life for granted when he begins to miss them. Although I can't relate to the distinct pain of taking time for granted with men and women, I can relate to taking possibilities for granted. Reflecting on some of my own individual experiences, there are some items I wish I had seized the chance and taken advantage of rather of letting the chance pass me by. However, as Holden was in a position to conclude, by reminiscing on missed people in his case, you will end up missing them. In my case, I end up regretting the choice I produced at the time. Top into an additional lesson Holden discovered, you never know what choice you will make until the time comes to make it. This is an aspect that I see in every day life, producing choices in the moment is important. No matter how considerably I plan for anything, it’s impossible to know what I could determine in the moment. All round, Holden’s lessons could not only be applied to his life after the sanitarium but they could be applied to the reader’s life as nicely.

Holden’s weekend in New York was one thing he will hold onto for the rest of his life. Throughout those couple days, he discovered far more about himself and his morals. Nonetheless, when he decided to get help at the mental sanitarium, this is exactly where Holden discovered the most. Here, he spent ample time reflecting on the series of events that led him there. Although in the beginning it most probably seemed like a single of the worst things to ever happen to him, the life lessons of adversity, morality and taking issues for granted will forever be anything Holden will hold onto. When he was in New York, these lessons have been not clear to him but once he could step back, away from his chaotic life, Holden isable to see what men and women had been attempting to teach him. By reading The Catcher in the Rye, I was in a position to connect with Holden and what he learns through his travels in New York.