Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence Essay

Ernest Hemingway once said, “all things truly wicked start from innocence.” In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, it is shown that even those who are not seen as innocent, once were. The main character Holden, tries to preserve this innocence to help it sustain its purity in people he notices it in. The novel revolves around teenage boy Holden Caulfield who is troubled by the problems he sees in the adult world. He struggles with the fact that everyone must grow up at some point and tries to protect those who have yet to come into this corrupt world of adulthood. The theme protection of innocence is predominant in the novel, shown through symbols which reflect Holden’s many values and motivations such as his love for children, hatred for

“phony” adults, respect in his relationships, as well as others that he can relate to. This is shown through his desire to protect kids by wanting to be the “catcher in the rye”. He also keeps his feelings towards Jane from showing, stops himself from having sex with Sunny because there is a form of innocence still in her, and protecting the public from a gruesome scene.
Holden fears the truth of being in the adult world and wants to protect children who have yet to come into this “phony” part of life.

Holden has a compassion for children and thinks they should stay as innocent as they are. He shows that he wants to help them do this when Phoebe asks him what he would like to do with his life. He tells her “I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s all I’d really like to be” (173). He explains to her that he pictures children playing in a huge rye field and he would be the one to stand at the edge of the cliff insuring that the children do not run off as he catches them. He believes the “catcher in the rye” means to save children from losing their innocence. Yet, the song where he gets this job in his mind ironically talks about having casual sex, yet he tries to make it seem the opposite, by portraying the fantasy of protecting innocent children. Another way Holden shows that he wants to be a protector of innocence is when he notices ‘Fuck you’s’ on the school walls that Phoebe goes

to:
Somebody'd written "Fuck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them – all cockeyed, naturally – what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it. I figured it was some perverty bum that'd sneaked in the school late at night to take a leak or something and then wrote it on the wall. I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I'd smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam dead and bloody. (201)
Holden clearly expresses his anger about the inappropriate graffiti he has witnessed. It especially angers him that it is on the school walls where little children and his sister are exposed to it- the last thing he would want- because he wants them to remain innocent as they are. He does not like the thought of them even knowing what it means, when it really is likely that they do. He speaks in a violent way when he tries to perceive who would have been someone to write it, and acts tough, saying he would beat them up until they suffered. Holden clearly demonstrates his love for children and desire to protect their innocence by the title and goal to be a “catcher in the rye”, as well as his anger against the ‘Fuck you’s’ written on the school walls.
Another symbol that represents the theme is Holden’s relationships with others, such as with Jane Gallagher. Holden admires Jane for her caring and honest personality. His relationship with her is quite complicated- as he tries to hide the fact that he secretly has feelings for her and tries to put them aside:
I wouldn’t exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out, though. She was sort of muckle-mouthed. I mean when she was talking and she got excited about something, her mouth sort of went in about fifty directions, her lips and all. That killed me. And she never really closed it all the way, her mouth. It was always just a little bit open, especially when she got in her golf stance, or when she was reading a book. (77).
Holden is trying to find flaws in Jane’s appearance to cover up the truth that he likes her.

This shows how he longs to stay innocent and keep his relationships that way as well- adults have feelings for one another and they are “phonies” so he should try to keep away from those types of feelings. One of the memories he has of Jane is when they are both on her front porch and her stepfather comes to ask her for cigarettes. She does not answer him, even when she is asked a second time. When he leaves, Holden asks her what was going on. She does not even answer Holden, and soon begins to cry. “I don’t know why, but it bothered hell out of me… Then she really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over-anywhere-her eyes, her nose, her forehead, her eyebrows and all, her ears-her whole face except her mouth and all” (79). This shows the sympathy Holden feels for her relationship between her stepfather. Holden explains that him and Jane never had any sexual relationship together; only held hands and when he tries to comfort her-protecting the innocent- by kissing her, while avoiding her lips, as it would be too sexual to do with her and would make him feel guilty of breaking borders between them. Overall, Holden tries to ignore that he truly has feelings for Jane by pushing them aside and finding imperfections and avoiding kissing her lips, since having any sexual relationship would take away from her innocence which he is trying to

protect.
Holden also tries to create innocence in the actions, thoughts and appearance of himself and others, while trying to keep it alive as well. One of the most evident symbols is Sunny, the prostitute he is hooked up with. Holden backs down from having sex with her with the reason that she is young. His evidence for this is that she refuses to smoke when offered, does not say “thank you” because she just does not know any better, and has a tiny voice of a young girl. When Holden claims that he is twenty-two, she does not respond to it the way he expects and he says, “It sounded like a real kid. You’d think a prostitute and all would say ‘Like hell you are’ or ‘Cut the crap’ instead of ‘Like fun you are’” (94). He makes excuses for himself to not have sex with her and blames it on the way she presents herself, still seeing a remaining innocence in her. Once he notices this “innocence”, he cannot have sex with her, to protect the goodness in her that he wishes to protect. Another incident where Holden creates innocence is when he is beat up by Maurice for an extra five dollars. After the fight, Holden feels down and describes that he wanted to commit suicide. He says, “I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (104). This quote shows that Holden does not want others to see his bloody body after committing suicide. He wants to keep the innocence of others around him and thinks anyone seeing a gruesome scene would take away from their innocence. Holden makes himself find the goodness in others, while trying to guard it from being lost by the actions that he makes.
In conclusion, Holden is a troubled character who does not want others to feel the emptiness he does, so he helps them to protect their innocence. He tries to protect others from becoming like him by avoiding anything that may be impure or sinful. This is true because of his actions towards children, Jane, Sunny, and the public, where he finds innocence and wants to be the savior of those who have not yet been into the corrupt world of “phoniness”.