A Journey Towards Maturity And Identity Essay, Research Paper

A Journey Towards Maturity and Identity

Life itself is a journey full of adhering and experiences which lead to wisdom and

understanding. Without adulthood one may ne’er hold these life learning experiences. This

leads to an empty shell of a individual ne’er genuinely feeling passion, love or peace. In the

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck Finn is seeking to happen purpose and

individuality through his moral conflict with society, while Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the

Rye by J.D. Salinger is an adolescent fighting to maturate into manhood. In comparing

they are both on a journey towards adulthood and individuality. Holden and Huck are similar in

their threshold crossing, route of tests, and flee and return ( Crispell 43 ) .

The threshold crossing is the topographic point or the individual that the character crosses over or

through into the & # 8220 ; zone unknown & # 8221 ; , being the topographic point where journey into self find

Begins ( Crispell 43 ) . Many times the call to their escapade includes traveling by desire,

opportunity, abduction, or by being lured by an outside force. In the Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn, Huck is forced with the quandary of whether to remain with his male parent and

continue to be abused or to go forth. Huck leaves because he desires to get down his journey. He

besides realizes that he will be forced to take between his ethical motives and his scruples, and will

hold to make up one’s mind which of these ethical motives to keep true ( Rubenstein 23 ) . Huck besides witnesses a

symbolic decease. He sets up his male parents cabin to look like he was viciously murdered. He

emerges from this as a runaway kid and now must be careful of what he does so that he

does non acquire caught. He tells people false assumed names for himself so that no 1 knows his true

individuality. Every clip Huck does this, he is symbolically deceasing and reemerging a more

experient individual. At this point, Huck is now on his manner to get down his journey into ego

find. Just like Huck, Holden besides crosses over into the & # 8220 ; zone unknown & # 8221 ; , but starts his

journey in a different manner.

Holden Caulfield is a really privileged child. Throughout his life, his parents were able

to direct him to wealthy private schools trusting he would maturate and get down to larn more

about his ain ego. His call to gamble comes because he is mentally lacerate between

experience and artlessness. It would look to him that an outside force is enticing him to make

something, but in actuality he is get downing his journey because of his desire. It is apparent

that Holden cares nil about school and about his ain instruction. He wants to go forth so

he can get down the journey of self find and get away the & # 8220 ; phoniness & # 8221 ; that surrounds

him ( Gordon 2043 ) . Holden & # 8217 ; s symbolic decease is really similar to Huck & # 8217 ; s. Holden besides uses

bogus names, but he symbolically dies through fainting, altering the place of his ruddy

runing chapeau, and his association with bathrooms. The bathroom motive, or the reoccurring

visual aspect of the bathroom, symbolizes decease for Holden because he enters bathrooms

with a neurotic and matter-of-fact frame of head and issues with a cleared head. The symbolic

decease is what gets Holden and Huck onto their journeys and into the route of tests, where

they experience many things that will alter them everlastingly.

The route of tests is where most of the characters journey takes topographic point ( Crispell 43 ) .

It is on the route of tests that the character begins to see different obstructions that will

alter his life everlastingly. For Huck Finn, his learning escapade takes topographic point on the

Mississippi River. Huck finds freedom on the river and it is here that he genuinely learns about

himself. However, he still faces jobs with moral determinations of right and incorrect and

assisting a runaway slave to accomplish freedom. Huck & # 8217 ; s going comrade is Jim. As anti-

society that Huck is, you would believe that he would hold no scruples about assisting Jim.

However Huck has to hold feelings that bondage is right so we can see the ignorance of

racial dogmatism. Huck and Jim & # 8217 ; s journey begins as Huck battles within himself about turning

Jim over to the governments, but he decides non to. This is a monumental determination because it

shows that Huck has decided to turn his dorsum on everything & # 8220 ; place & # 8221 ; bases for, and that

his true moral individuality is easy reflecting through. Even though Huck has made his determination

about Jim, early in the ocean trip we see Huck & # 8217 ; s attitude alteration towards Jim as racialist.

Finally Huck plays a average fast one on Jim, & # 8220 ; It was 15 proceedingss before I could work

myself up to travel and humble myself to a nigga ; but I done it, and I warn & # 8217 ; t of all time sorry for it

subsequently, neither & # 8221 ; ( Twain 86 ) . Again, we see Huck & # 8217 ; s attitude altering when later in the

narrative Huck saves Jim from two slave backstops by flim-flaming them to believe Jim is Huck & # 8217 ; s little

syphilis ridden male parent. What is traveling through Huck & # 8217 ; s head as he alters his attitude on Jim, is

unknown, nevertheless, his ain individuality is one that is genuinely caring and merely. When Huck

brushs the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons, he becomes cognizant of the lip service of

the household & # 8217 ; s feud with each other. When go toing church with them, he is amazed that

while a curate preaches about brotherly love, both the Grangerfords and the

Shepardsons are transporting arms. When the feud erupts, Huck hides in a tree want he

ne’er came ashore ( Twain 106 ) . The river allows Huck the one thing that he wants to be,

and that is Huck. It is the river and what Huck encounters on the river that helps him to

matu

rhenium and to happen purpose behind his ain true individuality. As Huck learned his individuality on

his escapade, Holden does much of same on his, so as to maturate and to carry through the

journey of self find.

Holden Caulfields route of tests takes topographic point from Pencey Prep to New York City.

Holden trades with his ain mental hallucinations, cognitive disotience, and his desire to remain

inexperienced person ( Stevenson 301 ) . At the start of Holdens journey, he appears to be a really

irresponsible individual. When he is assigned to look after his schools fencing equipment, he

leaves the equipment on the train. He does non care about what he has done and does non

even want to travel back and expression for it. Besides, his attitude towards larning are flagitious, and

when he eventually flunks out of school, he does non trouble oneself to state his parents. Alternatively, he

flights to New York City where he begins to larn things about himself and about others.

However before he goes, he decides to see his societal surveies teacher, who flunked him, to

state adieu. Besides, he visits his old English instructor to state him he has flunked out of

yet another school. Maturity is apparent because he is seeking to persist relationships with

people he cares about. Along his journey, though, little alterations suggest that Holden is

turning up. He was one time really selfish and did non like to portion. However when he

brushs two hapless nuns going to another church, he gives them a big part of his

staying money. This is a major measure in Holdens ain ego find. Holden requires

much aid to come to footings with his adulthood. Even though he invariably speaks as if he is

experienced in connexion and bonding, they were ever merely frontages. Even when in the

metropolis Holden feels he is superior to his environment because he has a false cognition of it

and it & # 8217 ; s workings. This is shown when he wants to hold a meaningful relationship with his

old friend June but does non cognize how to come to grips on how. Inspite of all he thinks he

knows he is truly merely the imposter he despises. While in the metropolis Holden finds much comfort

when with his sister Phoebe. When Holden foremost checks into the hotel, he is down and

wants to name Phoebe but doesn & # 8217 ; t because its excessively late. & # 8220 ; But I surely wouldn & # 8217 ; Ts have

minded hiting the old dirt with Phoebe for a piece & # 8221 ; ( Salinger 67 ) . In comparing,

Holden and Huck in their escapades show that they choose to populate in a & # 8220 ; effete society

in order to assist other unrecorded as they wish to populate instead than to retreat in order to continue

their ain consciences or coerce their ain trade name of redemption on others & # 8221 ; ( Stevick 3 ) . The route of

tests that both Holden and Huck experienced helped them to maturate and happen their ain

true individualities. What Holden went through helped him to turn, and what Huck

experienced helped him to maturate. This now brings manner to their flee and return where

both Huck and Holden are forced to do determinations with where they want to travel.

The flee and return comes after the character completes his obstructions and is allowed

to return to world, the existent universe ( Crispell 43 ) . At this point, the characters have now

mentally grown and have shown new marks of adulthood. Huck and Holden are both societal

misfits and want to get away civilisation. After Huck frees Jim, he chooses to put out for new

district. & # 8220 ; He has arrived at adulthood and ego sufficiency and he is poised at the terminal in a

delicate balance & # 8221 ; ( Adams 89 ) . So many things Huck witnessed like the cheating of the King

and Duke, the deficiency of lovingness by the townsfolk for Boggs, the naivet? of the Wilks sisters,

and the deficiency of common sense by Tom Sawyer guided him to doing the right lesson

picks. Throughout the escapade you have Huck Finn seeking to happen the one thing he

could merely happen on the river, freedom, but a individual can merely remain on the river for so long,

and so you have to travel on land to confront the unfairnesss of society. Equally rough as it seems its true.

Huck may ne’er understand why society is the manner it is, but his flee is from all thats wrong.

However Holden Caulfield has nowhere to put out to. Consequently he is placed in a

mental establishment where he is forced to accept his ain jobs. The society that he so

detested when he was in New York, changed him for the better. & # 8220 ; Holden is fated at the

critical age of 16 old ages, to fall from artlessness, to see the decease of the old ego and to

originate a new Holden to face the universe afresh & # 8221 ; ( Behrman 3017 ) . The flee and return for

both characters comes at the terminal of their journeys because now they have grown and have

understood more about the society & # 8217 ; s they each live in. Huck wants to merely put out and happen

new district. He wants to fly to nature where he is free from civilisation. In Holden & # 8217 ; s

instance, he has to recognize his lip service and accept that his job forced him to acquire

professional aid in the terminal.

Holden and Huck are similar in their threshold crossing, route of tests, and flee and

return. Both Holden and Huck completed their ain journeys to go more complete

persons. Children have an guiltless perceptual experience of the universe around them, but as grownups

we realize the universe is non black and white but assorted colourss. Huck and Holden & # 8217 ; s journeys

can be compared to the metabolism which a caterpillar goes through. The caterpillar

starts out guiltless ( black and white ) and goes through phases or obstructions to go a

butterfly. In the terminal the caterpillar emerges colorful every bit good as more complete and

experienced ( Crispell 50 ) .