The journey of discovery of Holden Caulfield in the novel The Catcher in the Rye.

Essay by liljcrusaderHigh School, 10th gradeA+, December 2002

download word file, 8 pages 3.0

It is a task of the modern novelist to create human beings who embark on a journey of discovery and whom we accept as living creatures filled with complexities. The life of every character starts at birth and ends in death. However fundamental these two events seem in a person's life, there is much more that occurs between the two. Every character takes a journey through life or is called to take one. This journey can be viewed as Joseph Campbell's Theory of the Quest.

Every character, at some time, is called to start the quest, to leave the old life for a new one. Holden, the main character and narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is no exception to this rule. He experienced, like many others, a period in his young life when he received the quest call to start his life journey.

Holden answers the call to adventure, the first step in Joseph Campbell's Theory of the Quest, when he gets kicked out of school.

According to Campbell, the call can take a variety of forms. The call can look like a call to live, a call to die, a call to go on a religious adventure, or a call to go on a historical adventure. For Holden, the call is a call to live. Holden goes through several struggles and ends up in a rest home. At the end of the novel Holden is living with aid. According to Campbell, the call to adventure is really a call to grow up, to mature, or to come to understand something the hero did not understand before. The call to adventure makes the hero pass from one level of maturity to another. For Holden, the call is definitely a call to grow up. Holden learns to mature and...