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Essays on nature vs nurture
The corruption of innocence in the book the catcher in the rye j. d. salinger self-reliance
The catcher in the rye holden's lies
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In The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss wrote, “When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” Children live in a world full of innocence, ignorance, and bliss. They are not affected by the corruption of the world; therefore, naiveté is preserved. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, innocence is shown through the pond and Holden’s desire for being a “catcher in the rye”; through Phoebe, Allie, and Sunny for their adolescence; and through the carrousel and the Museum of Natural History for their conservation. In the novel, Holden Caulfield establishes the theme of preserving innocence because of his loathing for deceptive people.
Preventing and protecting children from enduring adulthood demonstrates this innocence through the pond and Holden’s desire for being a “catcher in the rye”. When Holden questions Horwitz about the ducks, Horwitz replies, “…the fish… live right in the goddam ice. They get frozen right in one position… Their bodies take in nutrition and all, right through the goddam seaweed and crap that’s in the ice. They got their pores open the whole time” (75). The freezing pond resembles moral progeny. Their mortality is perpetuated, because they are frozen into place. The fish represent Holden for his preservation on naiveté, because he is stuck in the pond of purity for loathing fraudulent people. Being fastened in a pond of pureness relates to being saved from adulthood by maintaining the mortality of children. While Phoebe and Holden have a conversation about what Holden likes, he remarks, “… I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean...
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...too much. Everything is about sex... But I don’t think it should be everywhere, where kids are exposed to everything sexual. Because they have to have some innocence; there’s just no innocence left.” Children are being shown and taught the things that they should not be learning about. They are virtuous pupils who need to learn the good things in life, not the terrible things. There are being exposed to the cruelties in life rather than being protected from them. Children need to enjoy the life they have now, while they still have their naiveté; because, being pure allows one to become who they are. They are not dishonest, but they choose to have integrity. No matter how many times innocence is preserved, it will most likely be lost by the corruption and cruelties of the world. Therefore, children should be protected from the evils of the world.
Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye follows the journey of a young boy, Holden Caulfield, from adolescence to adulthood. There are a number of symbols that Salinger uses to help to portray the various stages that Holden goes through as he matures into adulthood. The snowball incident, his sense of fulfillment when at the museum, and his run in with a pimp, are all representations of how Holden is deeply obsessed with innocence thoughts and how reluctant he is to give them up.
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most famous books in American literature. Written by J. D. Salinger, it captures the epitome of adolescence through Salinger’s infamous anti-hero, Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield learns about himself and his negative tendencies, and realizes that if he does not do something to change his perspective, he may end up like his acquaintance James Castle whom he met at Elkton Hills. Holden tries to find help to mend his outlook on life through Mr. Antolini so he does not end up like James, who did not want to face the problems he created for himself. This is proven by the similarities between James Castle and Holden, Mr. Antolini’s willingness to try and help Holden, and Holden’s future being forecasted by James.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
Aristotle once said, “Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.” This “condition,” as Aristotle says, is adolescence. Adolescence is much like jumping in a lake. One must walk out to the dock and once he or she is at the end, one cannot turn back. If one is to turn back they will be ridiculed as a coward, like a child. The water is ice cold, a freezing ice bath, so one does not want to jump in, but he or she can’t turn back for fear of jeer from friends. Therefore one is in a dilemma of confusion and tension between “chickening out” and braving the polar water of the lake. The land is childhood, safe and comfortable, but gone forever; and the artic water is unknown, unpleasant, and threatening like adulthood. Just like the awkward stage of being in between jumping in and abandonment, adolescence contains the strains and tension between childhood and adulthood. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield, experiences these tensions of adolescence. Holden’s quandary is he is deadlocked in adolescence, unable to go return to childhood but unwilling to progress forward to adulthood. Because Holden is consumed with the impossible task of preserving the innocence of childhood, so he delays the inevitability of becoming an adult. This leaves Holden stranded on the dock, stuck in adolescence; the center of Holden’s problems.
This reveals Holden’s fantasy of an idealistic childhood and his role as the guardian of innocence. Preventing children from “going over the cliff” and losing their innocence is his way of vicariously protecting himself from growing up as well. Holden acknowledges that this is “crazy,” yet he cannot come up with a different lifestyle because he struggles to see the world for how it truly is, and fears not knowing what might happen next. Holden’s “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in a pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect it. This fantasy also represents his disconnection from reality, as he thinks he can stop the process of growing up, yet
In his novel Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger portrays childhood and adolescence as times graced by innocence when his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is faced with the reality of becoming an adult. Holden’s desperation to maintain his innocence and the manner in which he critiques those he deems to have lost theirs, emphasizes his immaturity and ignorance while highlighting the importance the author places on childhood.
The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D.Salinger, is a novel written to convey the emotions of transitioning from a child to an adult. The story takes place primarily in New York City, New York, following teenage boy Holden Caulfield during a short snippet of his life. The reader travels through this time as Caulfield is kicked out of secondary school and journeys to New York shortly after. The novel’s purpose is to detail the painful experience of being a teenager through the eyes of a boy who does not understand adults and experiences withdrawal from society due to his discontent with it. This experience relates to many which is why the book is still to this day so popular and why it is a valuable piece of literature.
In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden is deals with one of the largest obstacles one would ever face in one’s lifetime. He must deal with the concept of development and the idea that he’s growing up, that he’s no longer a child and must accept maturity. This internal struggle is evident in multiple aspects of this novel, particularly highlighted when Holden visits the museum and the carousel at the conclusion of the novel.
Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, adults and the world they inhabit are portrayed as corrupt. They are unobservant, skeptical and belong to a world filled with impurities. Holden does not possess the mentality of an adult, nor the innocence of a child, he is stuck in a perpetual halt somewhere between the two. While Holden struggles to find his place in society, Salinger expresses his disdain towards the concept that is adulthood. Salinger keeps Holden in suspended development in order to oppose the idea that innocence ends when adulthood begins. Becoming an adult shouldn’t require forgetting who you once were and the morals you possessed, as “all things truly wicked start from innocence (Ernest Hemingway)”.We were all born unadulterated, it’s our surroundings that made us evil. In order to survive the innocence you have to first outlast the
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
In chapter 2 of The Catcher in the Rye Holden ponders while conversing with his teacher “where the ducks go when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over.” Holden views himself as one of the ducks that are forced to adapt
In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, narrates the events that unfolded when he was sixteen shortly after his expulsion from the prestigious, Pencey prep school. From moving place to place and deciding to both meet and avoid people of his past, Holden experiences the painful transition many adolescent teens go through; becoming an adult. Holden is reluctant to leave his youth and be a part of the phoniness that is the adult world, and it is because of this does he avoid his parents and isolate himself, but his efforts of seclusion does not get far. Time to time in the novel, Holden has wayward thoughts about the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon. Holden’s curiosity of the ducks greatly reflects
There is a singular event that unites every single human being on the planet, growing up. Not everyone can say it was pleasant, but no one can deny that it took place. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing; often forcing one to seek out the answers to questions that likely have no definitive answer. During the process, the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we are on the brink of entering this cruel, unjust society can the ignorant bliss of childhood be truly recognized. Catcher in the Rye explores the intimidating complexities associated with adulthood and how baffling it seems to the naïve teenage mind. Through the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society.
In The Catcher In The Rye, J.D. Salinger utilizes flashback and allusion to Robert Burns’ poem “Comin’ Thro The Rye” to illustrate Holden’s dream of preserving the innocence of children, “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules”. Holden’s love for the innocence of childhood makes him very hesitant in the transition of being an adult. Usually, Holden finds children to be straightforward and easy going. This is because they always say what they mean, and never try to sugarcoat anything just to try and fit into society.
In J.D. Salinger’s controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in no hurry to face his parents. Holden travels to New York for several days to cope with his disappointments. As James Lundquist explains, “Holden is so full of despair and loneliness that he is literally nauseated most of the time.” In this novel, Holden, a lonely and confused teenager, attempts to find love and direction in his life. Holden’s story is realistic because many adolescent’s face similar challenges.