When I was an adolescent boy, I often told a lie. I used to tell my teacher lies and tell my friends and my parent lies, too. Though I couldn't remember what kinds of lies I had told, I told a lie frequently. Especially, when I was a junior-high school student, I might told a lie every day deliberately. After that, bitter taste remained in my mouth as a compensation for telling a lie. I will not be able to forget this sensitive in my mouth how bitter I told a lie then. Every time I told a person a lie to deceive, I felt I was deceived. Therefore, I made up my mind I stopped telling a lie absolutely. But, then, I had noticed that I had already told myself a lie.

I have read "The Catcher In The Rye" by J.D.Salinger in Japanese translation before. I can't remember whether I was a high school student or junior-high school student then. Yet this novel made a strong impression on me. I have still remembered the main character, Holden's difficulties in his mind of the age of puberty. As time goes by, I found by chance this book in English when I dropped in at the book store in downtown 7 months ago.

What is the difference between adults and adolescent boys and girls in general? According to a famous criminal psychologist, if they could tell an adult a lie with ease and without any hesitation and deceive completely, their mind must be as good as the adult's one.

Anyway, an adolescence which lies midway between adults and children is a complete term. So, we can image that two ideas between "I want to grow up a adult right now" and "I want to make up someone once again" are separated with the sensitive and reason intricately. We can also understand that the adolescent boys and girls often suffer from this difficulties in this time. My opinion is that the key points of this novel are difficulties and complications between Holden's mental dependence and independence.

If you read this novel, it is not difficult for you to see that the main character, Holden is an overprotected youth who was brought up in a comfortable circumstance. What I thought something very carefully in this novel is about his own real human nature.

For instance, speaking of his personality and character, Holden has often used some words such as "phony " or "artificial" for Lillian Simmons who was the former D.B'.s girlfriend, Ivy-students, Ossenberger who donated a large sum of money to Holden's high school, Carl luce who was a Holden's friend and the student at the Whooton, the actors which he saw in the theater, and the audience who smoked outside the theater in interruption. Holden was a perfect stranger to some of them or acquainted with other a little bit. Viewed objectively, I couldn't find in this novel that they had bad personalities as Holden called them "phony" or "artificial.

In addition, Holden bought a prostitute in the hotel which he stayed. As he said to us in this novel, he was a virginity. But he behaved as a playboy for her. He told her a lot of lies and talked irresponsibly, too. That reminds me though he had talked to a primp before he got her, the conversation was very unnatural awkward. This prostitute and primp would have seen it with ease that he told them lies.

It was distressing scenes for me that the more he behaved showy, the more he showed off how young he was. As you saw it, I can draw conclusions that the great discrepancies between Holden's speeches and actions, or a one-sided assumption is typical his personalities in his 16 years old.

A human being is unreliable and doubtful originally. To be honest, I have still told a lie occasionally to protect myself and betrayed another to justify. This is the evidence that I am not a real adult in my mind. Recently, I am often sunk hopelessly in self-hatred for such my behaviors after I finished reading this novel.

We could be agreed that a society is overflowed with many deceptions and hypocrisies. Looking back upon my adolescent days, I used to look for a innocent world as my ideal. Off course, I couldn't find my own utopia then. The meanings of these words "phony" or "artificial which Holden has often used in this novel repeatedly may be referred to the human being who were up to their neck in this disgrace society. Therefore, when adolescent boys and girls set foot into the world of adult, they had to prepare to the mental development by themselves. The reasons why he was hospitalized in the last scene of this novel are that he couldn't endure to set foot into the world easily to be his immature mentality. The world was cruel and harsh for Holden who had a pure and innocent mind.

In my conclusion, I guess that J.D.Salinger may have emphasized as one of cautions not only mental frailty of adolescence but also the deception and hypocrisy of modern society as seen through this novel.