The Change....

Recently I've established with myself that the transition from childhood to adulthood is one of the hardest transitions in a person's life. Everyone deals with this transition differently, including Holden Caulfield.

I believe that Holden is a very confused teenager for several different reasons. For one, he had to grow up a lot faster than any other teen his age, and experienced things, like the death of his brother, that many adults don't experience for the longest time. Ok so, any 'normal' person would have moved on by now right? No. Because when dealing with grief, there are no genuinely normal responses.

It is true that there are different stages that every person goes through when dealing with grief, and it is true that people have their own ways of expressing grief. However, Holden's situation is different from others situations.

Any time someone looses someone, it is normal for a person to get support from loved ones and family members, and there for is helped through the painful ordeal in that way. But, with Holden, there was no support. Jane didn't come into the picture until later, and his parents didn't understand him in the slightest. Holden is like a child because he doesn't know how to cope with himself and get over this dramatic event in his life. He is also like a child because, In my opinion, he is insecure and fears the way people will view him-hence the name/personality switching.

However, Holden is also like an adult... for instance when he talks about his respect for women, and how he thinks that a person shouldn't do anything with another person unless they're in love with that person.

I respect Holden's views, since I believe that they are unique and quite interesting as well. When it comes to thinking about these things for my own life, I am excited for the opportunities/challenges of adulthood. Perhaps what I'm most looking forward to is the chance to specialize in something that I am genuinely interested in and that I really want to pursue. However, I find the transition difficult as well, and miss childhood sometimes because of all of the innocence that I have lost so far. For another thing, one thing I hate the most about the transition is how much I have to pick and choose and do different things with my time that I normally wouldn't have to think about.

Overall, I feel that I am similar to Holden in certain respects, and different than him. I'm not lost like he is, but I do have some of the confusing emotions that he has as well.