The Demise of Holden Caulfield's Ego (Is Holden Cauliflower Field a sigma?)
Holden Caulfield sure is one hell of a guy, and I don't mean that in the positive metaphorical way. The average person's coming of age is often a long, slow process that takes years or even decades. Holden Caulfield's coming of age, however, is a far cry from what most people experience. His adventure of a coming of age takes the span of just a few days, and while massive shifts in his person do occur, judging by how he leaves us at the end of the story, we are left with evidence that his condition is still far from ideal. Rather than an accumulation of good, useful things, I see Holden's coming of age as more of a decumulation of bad things. As the story builds, Holden's ego is deflated and his connections with other people deepen. Throughout the first few chapters of J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye , Holden is portrayed as a fiercely independent, self reliant teenager who does not conform to social norms: "The game with Saxon Hall was suppo...