One recurring theme in ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ was innocence. This included Holden’s determination to protect children from losing their innocence as he had, how Holden attempted to hold onto some of his innocence and how he managed to come to terms with growing up and reaching adulthood. One example of Holden protecting children from losing their innocence was when he visited his younger sister Phoebe’s school in Chapter 25. He noticed that someone had graffitied “Fuck you” on the wall near the stairs. Seeing this angered and worried him - he didn’t think that children should be exposed to that kind of language. It really bothered him to think about them reading it, shown by the quotations “I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would …show more content…
see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant.” “They’d all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days.” He imagined them dwelling on it and becoming a little more aware and worldly because of the experience. To protect the kids from this happening, he erased it. He didn’t want the kids to lose their innocence as he already had, and he also wanted to prevent them from growing up and becoming ‘phonies’, as Holden viewed everyone in the adult world. In fact, the only people he believed were authentic were his late brother Allie and Phoebe. He also attempted to erase another piece of graffiti in the Museum of Natural History for the same reasons: “I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on.” A loss of innocence often lead to things such as drinking alcohol, smoking or doing drugs. Holden viewed these as bad and tried to postpone children participating in these for as long as he could. Holden was obsessed with the idea of protecting children’s innocence, so much so that when asked what he wanted to be by Phoebe, he revealed that his aspiration was to become the ‘catcher in the rye.’ For him, this was an occupation he’d invented and imagined in which a group of children were playing in a field of rye atop a cliff.
If they fell of the cliff, Holden was there to save them. He was the only one with this job as he informs Phoebe, “nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me.” This could be symbolic of how, since he was the only adult there, he was the only one who seemed to care about children’s innocence and wanted to do something to keep them innocent, and therefore he was also the only one trying to stop them from reaching adulthood. The fall from the cliff symbolised adulthood, while remaining in the rye and playing represented the innocence of childhood. If a child fell from the cliff, it would be fatal - they would become an adult. Holden wants to be able to help children to remain innocent for as long as possible. What’s more, he admitted that he’d like this to be his sole purpose in life - protecting children. “I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” He values this so much that he’d like to turn it into his profession. Some people want to become doctors, whereas Holden wants to become ‘the catcher in the …show more content…
rye.’ However, towards the end of the novel Holden starts to realise that children should be left alone and not have their innocence preserved - they should be able to figure life out for themselves. One event in ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ that showcases this is when Holden watches Phoebe on the carousel and she reaches out to grab the gold ring. Holden admits that he wants to say or do something in case she falls off the horse. This is similar to how he wants to prevent children from losing their innocence, as the gold ring symbolises adulthood and the inevitable loss of innocence it brings with it. However, he manages to restrain himself, and in fact none of the children reaching out for the ring fall off. Holden tells us that “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab 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.” This quotation shows that Holden has learnt that he can’t live vicariously through innocent children. It also shows that he learnt he shouldn’t try to protect them because they will all become adults and they need to grow up and experience life in their own way, through trial and error. “It’s bad if you say anything to them,” means that if Holden tries to shield children from the realities of the world like the “fuck you” graffiti or the phoniness of adults, he will be stunting their growth. Children need to discover these things on their own so that they can learn from the experience. If Holden tries to protect them, they will not learn anything new. Holden attempted to hold onto his own innocence to prevent himself from reaching adulthood and becoming a phony.
One example of him doing this was his quest to find where the ducks from the Central Park lake went during winter. Several times he asks strangers if they knew where they went, including two cab drivers: “By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?;” “Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?” He even thinks about them in the middle of a conversation with his teacher “I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.” They occupy his thoughts quite often. When he finds the opportunity, he even visits their physical location to find answers. “I figured I’d go by that little lake and see what the hell the ducks were doing, see if they were around or not.” It’s obviously very important to him to find the answer. This is because it represents his child-like innocence, and shows that he still has a youthful side to him. He wants to remain innocent, authentic and curious rather than becoming phony and boring - which for him means reaching adulthood. The people he asks usually respond harshly, instantly dismissing his idea for something unimportant and irrelevant. This further supports his dislike of adulthood and encourages him to hold tighter to any shred of innocence he has left, such as his fascination with the
ducks. Another example of Holden attempting to hold onto his own innocence is when he fantasises about running away to escape maturing. Several times he dreams about escaping to a ranch in Colorado, far away from New York. He tells Phoebe “I’m going away. I know this guy whose grandfather’s got a ranch in Colorado. I may get a job out there.” He wants to avoid the process of growing up by leaving behind everyone he knows and starting afresh. He lacks maturity because he can’t find the courage to face his problems head on. He wants to time his departure so that he doesn’t have to take responsibility for his actions or face the consequences of being expelled from another school. This way, he doesn’t have to face his parent’s disappointment or anger. I know he finds this intimidating and daunting because he makes a point to avoid going home before they’d found out he was expelled. “I didn’t want to be around when they first got it,” he says. When he visits Phoebe at home, he sneaks around and is very careful not to be seen by them. He also spends time informing the reader that his “mother gets very hysterical. She’s not too bad after she gets something thoroughly digested, though,” which is why he decided to stay in New York for a few days. Holden is too scared to face his parents immediately after they find out. Phoebe also tells Holden that when his father found out, he “will kill” him. By running away, he can avoid any future education as well as any consequences from his family. Another time he imagines running away from his problems is when he fantasises about living in a cabin “somewhere out West where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody’d know me.” He plans to avoid human contact as much as possible by leaving behind everyone he knows, and even pretending to be a deaf-mute so that he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. This immature daydream displays how much he wishes to avoid adulthood; accepting responsibility and facing the consequences of his actions. The quotation “I’d build me a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my life,” means that he is perfectly willing to stay suspended in limbo forever - not a child anymore but not quite an adult either since he lacks the maturity. He refuses to grow up, and this imaginary future he has created for himself is one of the ways Salinger shows his brush-off of adulthood. “But I really decided to go out West and all,” he explains, showing how determined he is to avoid maturity. He convinces himself that this future will solve all of his problems. He seems like he has developed as a character at the end of the novel however, and is ready to grow up and enter the adult world as he has given up the fantasy of running away from maturing. I know this because he tells Phoebe “I’m not going away anywhere, I told you. I’m going home.” When Phoebe asks if he really meant what he said, he replies: “Yeah.” To the reader, he adds “I meant it, too. I wasn’t lying to her. I really did go home afterwards.” Holden proves that he is capable of reaching adulthood and maturity by returning to his ordinary life. This means that he will have to face his parents, but he will maintain healthy family relationships and have a strong support system. Some children in modern society have experiences that can cause them to lose their innocence early. This means that they have to face the realisation that the world is not perfect and that humanity has many flaws. One example of a child losing their innocence at an uncomfortably early age is when Djoulie Dormeus witnessed a group of men beat a homeless man to death. In the article ‘When I Was About 6-Years-Old, I Lost My Innocence’ on Thought Catalog, Dormeus details how a group of young men took it upon themselves to inflict punishment on the beggar for stealing a little girl’s lunchbox. After the event, she learns that “at times, people are more concerned with revenge and punishment than they are with justice.” This is a traumatic thing to watch, especially for a child who has not yet begun to understand the horrible intricacies of the world. Her perspective on life from that moment forward was forever changed because of this event, and there was no way she could unsee or unlearn it. Her eyes were opened up to the harsh realities the world has to offer much, much sooner and more personally than even most adults have to face. Holden wanted to prevent children from having to experience some of the world’s problems like this one. The brutality of these men is reflective of much of the human race, and he found it destructing and damaging for children to lose their innocence early, or at all.
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.
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
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger is about a boy named Holden Caulfield who struggles with the codes of conduct his upper class lifestyle follows. For Holden, loss of innocence is not about smoking a cigarette as much as it is about his realization that the rules placed on him by society are phony. Holden distracts himself by focusing on his feelings of alienation because he does not want to face his own deep sadness over his own loss of innocence.
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
Childhood is an unusually hard thing to rid yourself of when it is time for you to pass into the intensified life of adults. Personally, I have yet to overcome that challenge. The Catcher in the Rye is a well developed story about a high school boy, Holden Caulfield, who is stuck between the stages of adolescence and adulthood, and is trying to discover his identity. All his life, Holden Caulfield has refused to grow up, and as the book progresses, he is on the fine line of leaving innocence and adolescence behind and passing into adulthood, but what gives him the needed shove into the realm of adulthood was getting over his brother, Allie’s death. To Holden, Allie is the main definition of innocence. Eventually Holden comes to the decision to be the catcher in the rye. After this decision he tries to follow through with his plan and ultimately decides that he can’t keep anyone from growing up. This seems to be his breaking point in the book where he finally overcomes all his negative emotions towards Allie’s death and accepts it for what it is, knowing that he has to move on.
Holden views children ethically because they are sympathetic toward him, modest, and intelligent, unlike adults who are false-faced, hypocritical, and selfish. Holden’s dead brother Allie exemplifies his thinking process. Holden seems to remember Allie when he is feeling down about the world. The first memory of Allie that Holden shares to the audience was about Allie’s baseball mitt. Holden describes this mitt as a left-handed fielder's mitt, but there is something unique about it. It has poems written all over it, so “he’d [Allie] have something to read when he was in the field.” (Salinger, 38) Simply by writing these poems, the audience gets a good look at Allie’s character. He is very pure and simple-minded, unlike adults. He finds pleasure in the simplest of things, like little poems on his mitt. Allie’s mitt symbolizes how pure Allie was while he was alive and his death. Since Holden still treasures this object, one could infer that he still hasn't gotten over the fact that his inspiration in life is no longer living. Holden repents “back into the family” (“Either/Or”) and remembers the pure memory of his brother, which gives him the strength to go on in life. Holden wants to save children for a living. Holden claims that he will, “catch everybody if they started going over the cliff.” (Salinger, 173) Now, this occupation is strictly hypothetical, but the imagery that
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
When Holden hears the quote, “if a body meet a body coming through the rye,” he hears it as, “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” 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. And 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.” (47-50.2) Holden believes that maybe if he catches the kids, and saves them from the cliff, maybe that means he can protect their childhood purity innocence as well. Another article, “Dealing with the Death and Loss of a Sibling.” states that, “this brother or sister’s death can make you feel older.” This may be where Holden's connection innocence comes from, like other surviving children, he feels as if he had to grow up too fast to deal with his
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...
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.
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.
Which is the kind of world he wants to live in. Holden expresses his desire to preserve the innocence of others when his sister Phoebe tells Holden that he doesn't like anything, and that he has no ambitions of what he wants to be when he is older. Holden then explains that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He says that he imagines little children playing on top of a hill and that his job is to protect children from falling of the hill. This symbolizes catching children from losing their innocence and falling into the adult world. Holden tells Phoebe, “I know it crazy, but that is the only thing I’d like to be” (172). This unrealistic desire is contributes to why Holden is struggling to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Critics of the novel have said Holden would like to suspend time stating, “Holden's desire to protect children shows his desire for suspending time, for inhabiting a space of young people conserved endlessly” (Yahya 3). Not letting go of childhood memories or accepting the harsh realities of adulthood are damaging when transitioning from
To begin with, Holden’s love for the innocence and purity of childhood makes him very hesitant to transition into an adult life. Generally, he finds children to be straightforward, easygoing, and simply pure in every way. This is because they always say what they mean, and never try to set a false façade for...