Some people believe that adolescent experiences determine the kind of person one will become in the future, however, there are many facts one must first look upon. As an adolescent, an individual may experience loss, grief, failure, numerous responsibilities, and being characterized into a social class of society. Holden Caulfield, the antagonist of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, lives in an adult society when he moves into New York City yet he is only a teenager. As a result, he faces a self-identity struggle and is uncertain of his beliefs. Salinger portrays the difficulties that go along with the "coming of age" through Holden Caulfield's point of view. In The Catcher and the Rye, J.D. Salinger expresses through Holden Caulfield's first person point of view on how a teenager struggles with the rules of society, growing up, and forgetting about the past. .
Holden's background history is the leading cause of his struggles to find a pathway to adulthood. In his past, he had flunked out of three private prep schools, experienced the death of his younger brother, Allie, and faced the expectations put upon him by his family. As Holden explains each event of his past, it is evident to the reader that he gains no support or signs of comfort from his family. After flunking out of Pency Prep, his last school, Holden takes the reader on an adventure as he returns home to New York for search of peace and completeness. His sexual curiosity becomes a major issue for himself, as it does for many male teenagers. "I could hardly stop myself from sort of giving her a kiss on the top of her dopey head-you know-right were the part is, and all. She got sore when I did it. What a lady, boy. A queen, for Chrissake." Holden asks the readers questions about women and displays sexual frustration as he fails to become romantic with any woman in New York City. Nothing seems to ease his pain or end with a positive outcome for him at this point of his life, therefore, he turns to the only family member he can depend on, his little sister Phoebe.