Post by The Thought Police (admin) on Dec 10, 2016 9:01:16 GMT -5
3) Holden sees the transition from childhood to adulthood as something to be feared and something unnatural.
Holden is a sixteen year old male who is neither quite a child and also not yet an adult. By leaving school, he is in the grey, aimless time of life when he is neither one thing or the other and has real concern about what will happen to him. He has a conflicted view of sex and relationships and tells us ‘Sex is something I really don't understand too hot.’
On the one hand he tells us
‘In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw’,
but on the other hand he has stopped short of having intercourse several times and has good moral principles about sex believing: ‘I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all’
Sex becomes a real issue in Holden’s mind as it becomes one of the main aspects of growing up. He thinks that to grow up, he should have sex. But at the same time, he finds the idea of sex the same as losing innocence and at all costs, Holden desires to preserve innocence.
His childhood friend, someone who Holden would be a perfect match with, is Jane Gallagher.
‘"Yeah. She wouldn't move any of her kings. What she'd do, when she'd get a king, she wouldn't move it. She'd just leave it in the back row. She'd get them all lined up in the back row. Then she'd never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row." Stradlater didn't say anything. That kind of stuff doesn't interest most people.
Holden likes Jane as a person, while Stradlater views her as a sexual object. Holden hangs onto his memories of their time together growing up. He cannot bear the thought of her being used for sex by Stradlater and persistently and childishly antagonises him until Stradlater actually has to hurt him to get Holden to stop. This destructive pattern of behaviour is similar to self-harm. Jane remains in his thoughts throughout the whole novel. Salinger uses her as a motif to show Holden’s desire to reconnect with his innocence. Each time Holden is feeling at is lowest yet, he considers ‘giving old Jane a buzz’. Yet, he never actually does. Perhaps he realises that he can never repeat the past or perhaps he instinctively knows that she is becoming a woman and he can only keep her as a child in his mind – if he were to call her, his illusion would burst.
Sex remains something tainted for Holden throughout the novel. He sees it as something ‘crumby’, something dirty. Holden is particularly disgusted to find that his ‘hotel was lousy with perverts’ doing ‘perverty’ things ‘squirting water or ‘something’ at each other’. Holden can only see women as ‘whores or doves’. Those like Jane are held up in his mind as pure paragons of virtue, but Sally is someone Holden sees as sexual and can ‘horse around’ with and ‘neck’. Yet, sex is something that would mark his entry into adulthood. This is why Holden seeks out Sunny the prostitute.
Salinger uses several key symbols to represent Holden’s desire to preserve childhood innocence.
Holden is a sixteen year old male who is neither quite a child and also not yet an adult. By leaving school, he is in the grey, aimless time of life when he is neither one thing or the other and has real concern about what will happen to him. He has a conflicted view of sex and relationships and tells us ‘Sex is something I really don't understand too hot.’
On the one hand he tells us
‘In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw’,
but on the other hand he has stopped short of having intercourse several times and has good moral principles about sex believing: ‘I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all’
Sex becomes a real issue in Holden’s mind as it becomes one of the main aspects of growing up. He thinks that to grow up, he should have sex. But at the same time, he finds the idea of sex the same as losing innocence and at all costs, Holden desires to preserve innocence.
His childhood friend, someone who Holden would be a perfect match with, is Jane Gallagher.
‘"Yeah. She wouldn't move any of her kings. What she'd do, when she'd get a king, she wouldn't move it. She'd just leave it in the back row. She'd get them all lined up in the back row. Then she'd never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row." Stradlater didn't say anything. That kind of stuff doesn't interest most people.
Holden likes Jane as a person, while Stradlater views her as a sexual object. Holden hangs onto his memories of their time together growing up. He cannot bear the thought of her being used for sex by Stradlater and persistently and childishly antagonises him until Stradlater actually has to hurt him to get Holden to stop. This destructive pattern of behaviour is similar to self-harm. Jane remains in his thoughts throughout the whole novel. Salinger uses her as a motif to show Holden’s desire to reconnect with his innocence. Each time Holden is feeling at is lowest yet, he considers ‘giving old Jane a buzz’. Yet, he never actually does. Perhaps he realises that he can never repeat the past or perhaps he instinctively knows that she is becoming a woman and he can only keep her as a child in his mind – if he were to call her, his illusion would burst.
Sex remains something tainted for Holden throughout the novel. He sees it as something ‘crumby’, something dirty. Holden is particularly disgusted to find that his ‘hotel was lousy with perverts’ doing ‘perverty’ things ‘squirting water or ‘something’ at each other’. Holden can only see women as ‘whores or doves’. Those like Jane are held up in his mind as pure paragons of virtue, but Sally is someone Holden sees as sexual and can ‘horse around’ with and ‘neck’. Yet, sex is something that would mark his entry into adulthood. This is why Holden seeks out Sunny the prostitute.
Salinger uses several key symbols to represent Holden’s desire to preserve childhood innocence.