8. What inner and outer conflicts arise in the transition from childhood to adulthood?

In adolescence, teens start to act differently than they did in their childhood. Some kids rebel against their parents and/or teachers. You start to lose some friends, or just realize who your real friends are. You have way more choices to make in your life each day. You have to do way more things, like spend more time with school-related things like projects and worry about high schools and which ones you're going to get into and how you're going to get into them (although not at this point; the high school process passed, yay). You start to wonder what will happen in the future. You spend too much of your conscious time at school. You'll usually become more anxious and stressed all the time because so much can be going on at once, which sometimes also creates a feeling of helplessness. You're not a child, you're not an adult, what are you? Confusion can lead to rebellion. (Many) Adults either treat you like a little kid or a grown adult.

"The Catcher In The Rye" Reading Response/Essay

In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield symbolizes teenagers who find a lot of wrong in the world. He sees much of the world and people in it as fake, only appreciates certain people, and hated his time at school. Holden, as well as other teens in real life, greatly dislikes the way the world is.

Holden finds many people to be fake or "phony", and uses the word a lot of the time to describe people and things. For example, on page 100; "I figured that anybody that hates the movies as much as I do, I'd be a phony if I let them stick me in a movie short". So Holden also believes that he, himself, is not phony unlike many people he sees. Also on page 164: "You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were". Holden uses the word phony so often throughout the book, it becomes apparent he believes most of the world and its people are fake. He also tends to speak and think in an exasperated-seeming tone, which also gives support to his dislike of things.

However, although it's obvious Caulfield doesn't appreciate many people, there are still some people he believes are not phony, and enjoys talking to. These people include his sister Phoebe, and his girlfriend Jane. On page 87, Holden was saying how he wanted to call Phoebe because she was "somebody with sense and all". You can tell when Holden likes and appreciates someone when he'll describe and tell stories about them that last for pages, which he did with Phoebe from pages 87-89 and with Jane from pages 99-104. If he dislikes someone or something, he'll still describe them, but not nearly as much as if he liked them. Holden is very opinionated on everything he talks about.

Holden's experiences at school also could have shaped the way he thinks of people and the world, as it does for other teenagers too. Holden had a very bad time in all his years at Pencey Prep. He didn't get along with his peers or teachers and didn't get good grades. He was a social outcast, and thinks that he's stupid (he mentioned early in the book that he's the "only stupid one in his family"). He strongly disagrees with anyone who tries to tell him that Pencey is a good school. I think that since he had such a bad time at school, that that's what shaped the way he thinks of the world around him and the people he encounters in it. School can also affect other teenagers in the same way. His lack of trust in people is probably the reason he had no real place to go and just wandered around New York City on his own, speaking briefly with many people but wasn't open to tell the truth at the same time (ex: he lied about his name a lot).

In conclusion, the things Holden goes through throughout his story can connect to many teenagers who have same or similar viewpoints and experiences as Holden. Many other teens can relate to Holden if they think people and/or the world are fake, or if they only talk to some people that they know, or if they had a bad time at school, etc. I think every teen can relate to at least one thing Holden goes through in his entire time in the story, in at least one point of their lives.

14. What are some questions or concerns you have about growing up and adulthood?

(Note: I'm sorry this post is late. When I tried to access Blogspot to do my homework, it said it was unavailable).

Some of my questions and concerns about growing up are:
(Most of these are about high school, as that is what's on my mind all of the time these days.)
1. What job/career will I have?
2. What is high school like?
3. What college will I go to? Will I go to college?
4. Is high school difficult?
5. Will I have a good/okay time in high school?
6. Is high school like middle school?
7. Will I have more or less free time in high school?
8. What would I study in college?
9. Will I stay in New York after I graduate high school?
10. Where will I live after I graduate high school?