''I think one of these days,' he said, 'you're going to have to figure out where you want to go. And then you have to start going there. But now. You can't afford to waste a minute. Not you''. In The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger the main character Holden Caufield comes from an emotional background and some emotional events and does not grow emotionally but remains immature as he was at the beginning of the book. People are supposed to emerge from adolescence ready for the real world and becoming adults, but in Holden's case he remains the same character and shows little to no growth. Holden goes through many situations in the novel and in the end still comes out the same person he was at the end. At the end of the book Holden still has the same childish views on life; he thinks he is violent, he is depressed, confused and irresponsible. Throughout the book Holden fantasizes about killing people, is immature when it comes to sex, interactions with children, and does not think about his actions and dreams before trying to achieve them. This ends up hurting him and other people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to Isabel Meese in her article on Holden's immaturity in Catcher and the Rye she also believes that Holden is immature and does not progress has a character in the novel. "I can see you very clearly dying nobly in one way or another for some highly unworthy cause, then going to his desk and walking away on a slip of paper. The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while «the characteristic of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for a cause». “I think Holden is stuck between adolescent angst, a certain clinical depression and his intellect is able to see the hypocrisy of the world but he doesn't have the maturity to put everything in perspective. He is still a teenager trapped in the fury of hormones and in adolescent malaise Holden is looking for outlets for his anguish while trying to understand the truth and honesty maturity to understand the many shades of right and wrong that make us all so human and so fallible. Holden is a budding existentialist caught in the body of a teenager.” I agree with Isabel that Holden is immature in this way because he would die for a causeless reason and that he's kind of stuck in his teenage body. For example, when he said he wants to be the catcher in the rye, so he basically wants to be the hero in every story instead of being the “base” person. Even though I don't agree with Isabel when she says that Holden hasn't grown up at all he has a character because in the end Holden actually realizes that he needs to go back to school and try this time to be something in life. And also it is not all Holden's fault if he is not on the right path in life or if he does not do good because most teenagers have parents who help you make the important decisions for you, as in Holden's case, he does not have the his parents there for him .At the beginning of the story, Holden thinks about killing many people. He wanted to kill Stradlater, his roommate for dating Jane Gallagher, his old friend. Holden knew what kind of guy Stradlater was and thought Stradlater would take advantage of Jane and was unhappy about it. Holden actually fights Stradlater but gets hurt, so Holden resorts to violence and ends up getting hurt because of his violent act, he also hurts Stradater in a way because they can't be such good friends anymore. Holden also wears his hunting hat and calls it a "shooting people" hat. Later in the story Holden also thinks about killing people when Mauricethe pimp hurts Holden and steals his money. Holden acts like he's been shot in the stomach. He also pretends to go downstairs with a gun to shoot Maurice and get revenge ''Maurice is an angry pimp who prostitutes a young girl, steals five dollars and punches Holden in the stomach. He wears a "phony shirt collar" under his uniform, has a "big fat, hairy stomach," and seems "very, very tired or very, very bored" all the while intimidating Holden into paying him another five dollars for the privilege of speaking with him. a nervous teenager''. Holden doesn't actually do this, but it shows how immature and violent he is and also shows how Holden still has the imagination of a child when he acts like he's about to do something or when he acts like he's "dying". Also, when Holden goes to visit Phoebe at school, he sees that someone has written "fuck you" on the wall. He starts to get angry and wants to smash the skull of whoever did this on the marble floor so that they are all bloody. the garage windows with his bare hands he is so shocked that he breaks his hand in the violent episode. This story, told in summary, is essential because it shows how adolescents deal with larger issues such as death and loss with violence. Holden must be psychoanalyzed after the collapse because he was so violent that he broke his hand." So this shows how violent and angry Holden can become and becomes so violent over little things that don't matter that he does immature things that end up hurting him in the long run. He also doesn't know how to deal with the situation and this shows how immature he is and hasn't grown up. Holden also can't understand his opinions and how he feels about sex. At first he hates Stradlater because he takes advantage of girls then he says he has never done anything to a girl because he always stops when they tell him enough is enough. Holden says he should really like the girl's face and really get to know the person before he can have sex with them. Holden's confidence when it comes to romantic relationships emerges early in the novel, as he calls himself a "sexual maniac". However, this trust is not as solid as one might expect, which becomes clear when Holden fails to contain his jealousy after Stradlater dates Jane Gallagher.” This is telling how Holden is sexually immature when he calls himself a sex maniac but has never had sex or knows what sex is and is a hipacrite because he talks about sex that way when he doesn't like Stranler talking about it that way. When Holden arrives in New York he calls Faith Cavendish who he thinks is a stripper. He doesn't even know her but he wants to have sex with her, this goes against everything he said before when he said he needs to get to know the girl and thinks she's cute. And then when Holden arrives at the hotel Maurice offers Holden a prostitute and he accepts Holden then doesn't do anything with her because he's nervous and it doesn't feel right this shows how confused Holden is about sex. It's foreign to him and something we never see him understand. He has ideals that he sets for himself but he never follows them through and even sometimes, depending on the situation, he does a one-eight and does the exact opposite of what he said at the beginning. He also asks Carl Luce, an old friend from his school, about sex, but Carl is uncomfortable talking about it not only with Holden, a sexually embarrassing teenager, but also in public where that stuff isn't supposed to be talked about and Holden learns nothing again. And we never see Holden learn to control his emotions and actions regarding love and sex. Holden never does this and never learns to think about his actions. Holden makes a lot of bad decisions in the beginning. He runs away from Pencey without even saying.