Young and Childish Every story has a hero, whether it's a classic like Hamlet and Macbeth, or a more modern film like The Lord of the Rings. However, not every hero is successful in their journey and ends up becoming a tragic hero. Through The Catcher in the Rye, Holden faces failure. After failing out for the fourth time, Holden returns to New York to begin his journey and figure out what to do with his life. Holden then goes through life, acting childish and unable to progress on his adventure into the future. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a great example of a tragic hero, as the reader follows Holden Caulfield as he tells his story, which exemplifies his immaturity through his inability to interact with people. He tries to make excuses, calling everyone "fake" or "false", saying that everyone only cares about themselves and therefore is not real with others. This is a defense mechanism for him, which makes it more difficult for him to communicate with people, thus frustrating him. Example of these failed interactions can be seen with his Pencey Prep roommate, Stradlater wonders if Stradlater met his girlfriend that night, Jane Gallagher, who was a friend of'. Holden's childhood. When Stradlater is ambiguous with his response, saying "That's a professional secret, man", it angers Holden to the point of physically hurting him (Salinger 43). and would not resort to violence to try to solve his problems. In addition to his poor ability to handle certain situations with maturity, Holden also communicates immaturely with others. He meets Carl Luce, one of his counselors from Whooton . When he was dating Whooton, Holden knew that Luce often talked to boys about sex and tries to insert him into the conversation, asking him multiple questions about his sex life. Luce, who has since matured, shoots Holden and says "...typical Caulfield questions...When the hell are you going to grow up?" (Salinger 146). This further is first seen when Holden becomes angry at Stradlater and leaves school early, boarding a train to return to New York, his hometown. After returning to the city, he stays in a hotel, not wanting to return home and face his parents after being expelled from another school. This can be seen as immature because he runs away from his problems at school and is afraid of dealing with problems at home. Another example is when he asks Sally to run away with him to Vermont. He states that he will empty his bank account and they can live in a cabin and get married one day. Sally immediately rejects the idea. Trying to reason with him, she says, “First of all, we're both practically children. And have you ever stopped to think about what you would have done if you hadn't found a job when your money ran out? We would starve” (Salinger 132). Holden's idea exemplifies his immaturity by suggesting something so irrational. Any mature, rational sixteen-year-old would never suggest leaving home to start a life of his own. However, Holden once again decides that he wants to leave home by moving west and working at a gas station until he has money to build a cabin. By wanting to go through with it once again, he shows his lack of maturity, even after Sally says everything that could go wrong with the plan. Holden's sporadic decision to move west can also be seen