The Catcher in the Rye Genre

Coming-Of-Age

The Catcher in the Rye shows the main character's movement from a position of so-called "innocence" to one of knowledge. In this case, Holden has already lost much of his innocence and is desperately trying to avoid turning into a "phony," which is apparently synonymous with "adult." He's definitely got that "time is running out" attitude (just check out his conversation with Sally towards the end of Chapter Seventeen). In fact, he doesn't seem to trust anyone over the age of 30(-ish).