Teenagers are often portrayed as whinny mischief making Free Essay Example

Teenagers are often portrayed as whinny, mischief making, and problematic. This is demonstrated everywhere, whether it’s in in films, shows, or books. In society, teenagers are often portrayed as acting out for no reason, just a mere annoyance. However, is there a deeper reason as to why they are acting in this way? We consistently see that there are valid reasons to their confusing actions. Acting out is one thing a teenager will do when they have pent up emotions in them.

This notion is demonstrated in the book ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger by Holden Caulfield, a wealthy teen who goes to Pencey Prep and drops out after receiving horrible grades. Holden portrays himself as a sarcastic, fabricator, and is always irritated by everything around him in the world. Still is he being this way on purpose or is there a reason behind the madness? As we learn more about Holden’s situation we learn there may well be a real reason for why he acts the way he does.

Therefore,teenagers do not act out without reason.

One of the reasons teenagers will act out without reason is because of emotional trauma they face. We see this in The Catcher in The Rye when Holden talks about the death of his brother, Allie. Holden at first speaks very highly of Allie calling him ‘the most intelligent’ and ‘the nicest’. Holden goes in depth with Allie’s personality, describing his hobbies.We can tell that he had such a strong bond with him.

The chapter then takes a turn as Holden describes how Allie’s death really broke him down emotionally leading him to act out in physical ways. In chapter 5, Salinger writes ‘They were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist’.

People act out in many different ways because of emotional trauma, even adults will act out if they experience something as agonizing Holden has. Your emotions can make you unhinged. Holden cannot help the way he reacts to the situation ‘I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, you didn’t know Allie.’ Emotions can be strong enough to take hold of a person and make them behave in ways even they do not understand. Holden’s feelings for Allie showed his admiration for his younger brother. Holden’s way of acting out displays the pain he felt of his brother death. He doesn’t just act out physically but he copes with his emotions by writing it down. ‘Anyway, thats’s what I wrote Stradlater’s composition about. Old Allie’s baseball mitt’. Holden cannot stop thinking about Allie as he is writing Stradlater’s essay. We see him instead for his emotion out in the essay instead.

Another reason teenagers do not act out without a reason is because they are afraid of growing up and becoming an adult. Throughout the novel, we see that Holden is very immature and has a very negative personality.In chapter 10, Holden decides to leave Pencey earlier than his expulsion date. He gets a hotel room in New York and stays there until he goes back home. Chatting with a few of the the guest at the club, he comes off very annoying. Holden is at a nightclub called the Lavender Room. He tries to come off as mature he can be, but he still acts like as if he’s twelve ‘Hey- how old are you, anyhow? That annoyed me, for some reason. ‘Oh Christ .Don’t spoil it,’ I said. ‘I’m twelve, for chrissake. I’m big for my age.’

Holden immaturity comes from him not wanting to leave his childhood phase. He tends to act act out like if he is a little child, causing people to stay away from him. He is unable to accept the realities of growing up because of his negative personality. His negativity comes from him not moving on from the death of his brother Allie. Holden is connected to all things innocent and genuine, as Allie was an example of that. We see that he is more connected to his two younger siblings, than his adult brother D.B. The strongest connection he has in his family right now is to Phoebe, his younger sister. Phoebe is considered genuine, and everyone older as ‘phonies’. As you become an adult, your identity changes. You try to conform to what society says you need to be or what you should do. He feels that adults are faking to try to fit in. We see examples of this with his brother D.B. D.B used to write books but transitioned into writing screenplays for Hollywood. In Holden mind, he feels that D.B sacrificed his art of writing stories, for ‘being a prostitute’ for Hollywood.

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