What happen if everyone in the world
is wearing a mask?
That is exactly
what this world is; everyone wears a
mask. Most
people we see
every day have their true identity hidden behind a
facade. Although a true identity cannot be divulge
just by looking,
but with a
careful scrutiny of one's character will reveal to what
is behind the
facade. Equivalent to what happened in
J.D. Salinger's
novel The Catcher
in the Rye.
Holden Caulfield, a typical teenager in the
50's with a
morally loose,
rude and obscene personality. However,
his rudeness is
just a mask that
he uses to cover his decent, sympathetic, and mature
character
inside. Throughout the entire story,
Holden uses unchaste
language to
offense himself. The use of these words
may insult the
reader, but the
truth is, he is building a facade so that he can obtain
the approval he
feels they have oppose him thus far. As
a teenager,
the critical
period of his life, Holden struggled to find the meaning
of life, and his
survival, they easily depressed Holden demands their
company, even
though he calls them "phonies."
Holden is really a decent
and mature
teenager, but he only hides behind the false front to obtain
the
approval. In the meantime, he tries to
find the meaning of his
existence. There's Holden's false front, a rude and
without standard
teen, but what's
behind it are important. A decent,
sympathetic and
mature teen lies
behind the mask. The only time he
reveals these
distinctions is
when he comes to some points and some people, especially
children. For example, when Holden decide to go to the
west, he wrote
a note to Phoebe
to tell her that meets him at the museum.
While he
was waiting,
there's two kids that came up and asked Holden where is
the mummies, he
stated:
". . . The
one little kid, the one that asked me, had his pants
open. I told him about it. So he buttoned them up right
where he was
standing talking to me--he didn't even bother
to go behind a
post or anything. I would've laughed . .
."
In addition, Holden displayed maturity at one
point. A
positive incident
took place with his old girl friend, Jane Gallagher.
While Holden and
Jane were playing checkers, Mr. Cudahy, Jane's
stepfather, asked
Jane if there's any cigarettes in the house.
Jane
didn't answer, so
he left. Then Jane dropped a tear on the
checkerboard.
It bothered
Holden for a while. Then Jane began to
cry, and Holden
kissed her. He also asked if Mr. Cudahy ". . . had
ever tried to get
wise with
her." Jane replied no, although,
Holden still remain concerned
on every problem
she had. Holden's maturity shows us he
has a grown-up
heart behind the
mask.
Furthermore, Holden also demonstrate his
sensitivity, especially
on children. For instance, Holden's brother, Allie, and
his sister,
Phoebe, had a
major impact on Holden. He loves Phoebe,
his little sister.
He loved her so
much, he says: "You never saw a
little kid so pretty and
smart in your
whole life." Then when Holden
decided to go west, Phoebe
wanted to go with
him. That's when he knows he needs to
face the true
self, his
reality. He also delighted by his
younger brother, Allie. He
stated that Allie
is a nice boy. Allie loved to write
poems, so he wrote
poetry all over
his own baseball mitt. Holden kept
Allie's baseball mitt
after Allie died
of leukemia. When his brother died,
Holden was so upset
that he broke all
the windows in the garage with his fists.
Subsequently,
Holden wanted to
be the "Catcher in the Rye," but he now realized that he
cannot
"catch (or safe) all the children that started to go over the cliff."
Thus, Holden's mask is just a false front, a
facade. But what's
behind it is the
most important. He uses the language to
find the meaning
of life, his
existence. The true Holden shows his
decent heart, sympathy
and maturity.
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