As Anthony Horowitz once said "Childhood after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child." In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield expresses similar feelings towards the loss of childhood innocence. Holden wishes to save children from the harshness of the real world where all innocence and kindness is forgotten and traits that Holden despises come out. Holden decides, that innocence is what is stolen from children through the perils of adulthood. Holden desires to become the person who he never had in his life. Someone who would catch him, and save his childhood from the experiences that come with being an adult. Holden's main aspiration in life is to become, as he said …show more content…
to Phoebe, "the catcher in the rye." Holden explains his desire to be the one person who can catch the children from falling off the cliff when they play in a field of rye. "What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them." (173) These kids would be running around blindly in a field of rye, as it is such a tall grass. The children in real life, as Holden sees them, are blinded by their own innocence of the real world, and there is a moment when they fall off the cliff because of it. The cliff represents the adult hood that awaits a child once the innocence is gone. Holden wants to be the savior for the children, the one to preserve their kindness and save their innocence. Holden appears to be someone who is stuck in the middle of the two worlds of childhood and adulthood. He is not anymore playing in the rye, blinded by his innocence, but he has also not yet fallen off the cliff. He is stuck between wanting to grow up away from these childish things, but to also regain his innocence that he has lost on the way. And so he wants to stand near the cliff, ready to save all the kids who are about to loose themselves to the corrupt real world. As Holden witnesses Phoebe grow up, he realizes that at some point all kids will have to grow up too, and that some will fall "off the cliff".
Holden recognizes that he won't be able to protect all of these kids from the world they will eventually have to live, that, no matter what soon they will experience the real world for themselves without the protection of anybody. "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them." (211) Throughout the novel Holden has slowly come to the conclusion that kids will not always be kids and theres no way to stop them from becoming adults. Even he is not able to escape the real world, even if he was to run away. Holden comes to the conclusion shortly before he returns home that he can't avoid becoming an adult and dealing with the real, corrupt, world. All children will have to go through this and theres no way to stop it. Kids will always fall off the cliff, because at some point innocence leaves them and at that moment they either fall into the real world or they stay stuck, like Holden, not wanting to belong in such a corrupt world, but not able to regain their innocence either. In each situation you end up in the harshness of the real world, where innocence is just an
idea. Much like the line in the poem from Robert Burns, " If a body meet a body coming through the rye." Holden wanted to be the catcher in the rye. The savior of children who protected the children's innocence through the harshness of the real world. Although, in the last few chapters of the novel, Holden realized that everyone grows up, and that everyone will face the real world and no one can stop this. And so must also face the real world, rather then stay stuck between adulthood and childhood. Because Holden learns that, childhood, and the innocence that comes with it, is the first thing stolen from a child and theres nothing that can be done to stop that, even if he is to catch all the children that fall.
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
To conclude, Holden try’s desperately on holding on to his innocents. Triggered by the loss of his brother, Holden makes it his mission to protect kids from there inevitable maturity, sealing them from phony’s and. When he realised that he could not achieve the qoel of saving all children from growing up Holden has a nervous breakdown. He dosint understand the proses of life ad he can’t pick to stay a child for ever when in reality growing up is inevitable. ‘’We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.”
Holden’s apparent desire to be separated from the majority of his family and friends appears to have been triggered by the death of his younger brother Allie. From Allie’s there has been a downward spiral in Holden’s relationships, as he begins to avoid contact with others and isolate himself more. The reason I believe this is because we can see how immense his anger is after Allie’s death, ‘I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist’. The death of Allie has become like an awakening to Holden, and has alerted him how precious childhood innocence is, when Holden comes to this realisation he convinces himself to do everything within his power to protect the innocence of himself and those around him, to protect them from what he sees as a false adult world. Although Holden clearly fails to protect himself, as he falls into all sorts of situations which hardly boasts of innocence and virt... ...
Holden says "What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all." (page TBD) This quote goes well with Holden resisting to grow up. Holden says this when he's standing over the ledge and looking down on the children. Holden believes that it is important to maintain a child's innocence and we see this throughout the book. Constantly Holden is helping children and making sure they are doing well and are okay. We see this a lot when Holden talks about his sister Phoebe. Holden does not want to grow up and he proves that when he says that adults are phony and then Holden will look at a child and he will think that he wants to save that child from growing up because he doesn't want that kid to become a phony like the rest of the adults. In the song When We Were Young by Adele she says You look like a movie/You sound like a song/My God, this reminds me/Of when we were young/Let me photograph you in this
He is not innocent, but he is also not mature. Holden identifies with children, but they do not identify with him. “I passed by this playground and stopped and watched a couple of very tiny kids on a seesaw. One of them was sort of fat, and I put my hand on the skinny kid's end, to sort of even up the weight, but you could tell they didn't want me around, so I let them alone.”(81) In this example and others, Holden wants to be with the children, because he still sees himself as an innocent child. Although he is always reaching for a cigarette or drink, Holden has a difficult time accepting that he is no longer an innocent child. This is the foundation of Holden’s depression, which J.D salinger revales upfront. has a difficult time accepting he is no longer
Holden wants to shelter children from the adult world (Chen). In Chapter 16, the catcher in the rye finally appears. This is also a symbol for what Holden would like to be when he grows older. He pictures a group of many kids playing in a field of rye, where it is his job to catch them from falling off the cliff. This shows Holden’s love for childhood and his need to preserve it in any way he can. According to Alsen, “The way Holden explains why he wants to be the catcher in the rye shows the kindness and unselfishness of his character. However, the surreal nature of the metaphor also reveals his unwillingness to face the real life choices he needs to make now that he is approaching adulthood.” By the end of the book, Holden realizes in order for kids to grow, there can’t be protection from all of potential harm. “He therefore gives up his dream of being the catcher in the rye and is ready to make a realistic choice of what he wants to do with his life” (Alsen). Holden’s dream world, that doesn’t involve change, is unrealistic. He is terrified by the unpredictable changes of the adult world, but there is no way for Holden to avoid the experiences and changes that the
It is at this point that Holden sees that he can not stop children from growing up and losing their innocence. They will fall, if they fall, there is nothing that can be done. Shortly after this point, Holden had his nervous breakdown. His breakdown is due to this realization that the world is corrupt and filled with evil. He knows now with certainty that he is powerless to stop both evil and growth.
Throughout the book Holden admits he doesn't like change. Holden fear of growing up , becoming an adult and thinking of of it disgust him. For example the museum, Holden like it because the exterior of it did not change and says the only thing that would change would be you.In the text Luce says “Same old Caulfield.When are you going to grow up already?”(144). Holden wants things to stay how they are and how his life is. Holden considers adults phonies and he doesn’t want to be consider phony as well. When he describes the museum he says the best part about it is that it never changes, only you do.Holden bonds with his sister taking her to the zoo, museum and the carousel.He wants to Phoebe to experience what he did and to get the memories alive. “What I have to do, I would have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- what I have to do, I mean if they are running and they don't look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That is all I have to do. I would just be the catcher in the rye”(173). This quote show how by holden is catching them from falling down the cliff which symbolizes stopping them from adulthood. “Thousand of little kids and nobody’s around- nobody big , I mean except me”(173). This quotes implies how young innocent kids won't be exerted by adults
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s outlook in life is either the innocence of childhood or the cruelty of adulthood. He believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and it should be protected from the cruelty and phoniness of the adult world. Therefore Holden has a desire and is compelled to protect a child’s innocence at all costs. This is revealed when Holden tells Phoebe that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says to Phoebe, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re ru...
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
Have you ever pondered about when growing up, where does our childlike innocence go and what happens to us to go through this process? It involves abandoning previous memories that are close to our hearts. As we can see in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we listen to what the main character; Holden Caulfield has to say about it. Holden is an average teenager dealing with academic and life problems. He remains untouched over his expulsion from Pencey Prep; rather, he takes the opportunity to take a “vacation.” As he ventures off companionless in New York City, we are able to observe many things about him. We see that Holden habitually states that he is depressed and undoubtedly, wants to preserve the innocence of others.
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.
If there were one word to tell what the theme of the book was it would be innocence. How we are all innocent at some point, how to try to keep our innocence, and how no one can keep their innocence forever. We all fall from our innocence. Adam and Eve fell from grace and innocence and set the tone for all of our lives. Throughout the whole book Holden is trying to make people keep their innocence and he wants to hold onto it himself. What he needs to learn and does learn through the course of the book is that no one can keep his or her innocence. We all fall at some point, but what we have control over is how hard we fall.
Holden cannot accept the loss of innocence as a step into the growing up process. The ones that he loves most, are those who are younger to him, they are innocent, and untouched by society’s truths. Holden says, “…I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big. I mean – except me.
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.