Growing Up |
Growing up is never easy, as Miss Edwards explains. However, She asks a very good question: Do we really have to grow up? In Catcher in the Rye one of the main themes is protection of innocence. We often associate innocence with the young, such as Phoebe. Growing up is filled with the terrifying responsibility of bills and taxes and starting your own life. Who's to say you can't have a little fun with it?
Like Holden, you can only avoid responsibility for so long. He left for New York so he didn't have to face his parents over being kicked out of Pency academy. People have to own up for their deeds at one point and that's what makes growing up scary. Miss Edwards asks people to tell of their favorite life moments. Out of the three she asks two reply with grown ups only answers, having children and getting married. This shows that many things that are the light of your life happens when you grow up. However, if you grow up completely you miss out on a lot more things. You miss jokes with friends and activities like concerts and sky diving and an assortment of other things. No one should grow up all the way. People need to be able to balance responsibility and their inner child. You can always spend the morning doing work and taking care of responsibility and then do the fun things, like hanging out with friends or going dancing, in the afternoon. In short, people need to learn to balance their lives better. You can't have food and not water. So you can't have responsibility without some fun. People tend to let their ambition blind them for what they really need. As a species, we need to learn to let loose a little. In time, I'm sure that if people learn this, we can all be a little happier. |
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