Thursday, November 18, 2010

In The Catcher in the Rye b J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield takes on the role as the universal teenager. For starters, he hates school. He is kicked out of several institutions, mainly for not applying himself. When describing why he's leaving Pencey he says, "They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself- especially around midterms, but I didn't do it, so I got the ax" (4). Like many teenagers, Holden doesn't try in school and hates education. This is one way Holden represents the universal teenager.
Another way Holden represents the universal teen is his chronic depression and his overexaggeration. Holden is depressed about his life. Phoebe describes his situation by saying, "You don't like anything that's happening" (169). This is a slight exaggeration because no one truly dislikes anything, but Holden is very pessimistic about most things. Most teenagers can relate to this because they don't like a lot of things and feel like they know better than anyone about how things should be. He also threatens to commit suicide several times because of how depressed he is, but would never do it. He is an over-exaggerator like most teens who make everything out to be ten times worse than they are. THese are only a few examples of how Holden represents the universal teen in The Catcher in the Rye.