Who would Holden be as an adult?

While I was reading the Catcher in the Rye, a major thing I wondered about was: who would Holden end up being later in life, if he grew up to be an adult and had to accept his realities– was forced to grow up, even? Like, does he ever actually become “the catcher in the rye” in his own view of things? I also wondered if Holden being an adult would make him phony, in his own eyes? Or does he just avoid any and all concepts of adulthood?

First of all, I think Holden wouldn't really think of himself as an adult in the first place, and therefore avoids the potential crisis of being phony. He does seem to want to become a figure with some responsibility at some point, saving kids by being the catcher in the rye and imagining himself as a kind of hero. “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye… and I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff,” (156). This moment shows that Holden feels he has to save them. It gives him a purpose that would have a lot more emphasis than the time he imagined beating up Maurice, as it is based in care and protection rather than violence. As for the actual reality of things, generally I will admit Holden would definitely be a problematic person with unresolved mental health issues that he’s still not really able to communicate. I think that for a time, he would at least try to fulfill being a sort of “catcher” and commit to his own conception of saving people from growing up too fast– but what kind? I do think the phoniness of society would grate on him heavily, so I don’t see him becoming a social worker of sorts (which might be a little too much anyway, considering Holden is a decently unpredictable person).

I think that after everything he dealt with, he would end up settling somewhere quiet, like the nuns he met. While I don’t think that Holden would actually be a nun, considering his explanation that, “all churches are constantly trying to get you to join up with them,” I could see him connecting with the morals surrounding the church and the people within it. In this hypothetical, he would get to help and “save” kids, and in that sense, the church has a lot of the same values he does. I could see him working in Sunday school or following the paths of what he considers to be innocence, hopefully in a quieter town. One of the most telling scenes of who Holden is and what he believes in is the scene where he meets a pair of nuns who ask him about school on the street. Holden notes that “they never went anywhere swanky for lunch” and “they didn’t seem like they were afraid of anything,” (99). It tells us that Holden is more attached to the idea of innocence, and the rejection of everything he believes to be phony, rather than only being attached to those who were close to him in his childhood. He’s incredibly kind and welcoming to their questions and gives them thoughtful and true answers with little backtalk to us, the “you”. However, he mentions that although the nuns are genuine, churches often try to coerce people in and he very much wants to avoid that, which most likely removes that possibility. The fact remains that I think he would have a great time being a nun.

In a more negative sense, Holden could become too involved in his own mental issues to fully ever get a grasp on anything, and end up moving away to a place free of phoniness. This could happen as time continues and the media comes into more and more focus in the society around him throughout the media explosion happening in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He could become an absolute recluse and push people away who try to help, or move to a small town. I still think this begs the question of purpose– I don’t really see him giving up anytime soon on helping people, he literally walked ten miles to his and Phoebe's house unprompted because he wanted to see her. He cares about her and Allie so deeply too, saying, “You should see her. You never saw a kid so pretty and so smart in your whole life,” (60). My point is he has the willpower and the passion to fulfill his dreams of saving people from adulthood and “catching” them like he says.

I could also see him in education or writing if he was somehow able to focus on himself and get himself some help. He could “save” people through stories he wrote or “catch” kids and hopefully be a better teacher than all of the prep school experiences he underwent. With this rather sunny view, Holden would be able to focus on himself and the people he loves, fulfilling some of his purpose. My point with this post is that we don’t really know what Holden will do or who he will become, as he is such a strongly quintessential teenage character. However, it made me question what he would do with his life if given the chance. I think my favorite theory I came up with would be the idea of Holden as a nun, just because it’s a fun idea. Regardless, Holden is a very ambiguous character, but I think it’s interesting how much his “purpose” brings to the story.