Examples Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character is based on himself and his many experiences. “His career had started to take off, but then, like so many young American men around this time, World War II interrupted his life. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Salinger was drafted into the army, serving from 1942-’44” The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a sixteen-year-old that refuses to grow up. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles through his life because he does not want to accept the responsibilities that comes with becoming an adult and pushes away those that wish to help him. He choices to be stuck in the world of childhood innocence instead of taking the responsibilities of an adult. “The Catcher in

the Rye is not only the story of a young man's sad spiral into a nervous breakdown, but it is also about a boy who takes the chances his readers do not feel capable of risking. His failure makes him all the more real for these same readers” (Lisa Privitera)
The novels starts from a mental institution where Holden is undergoing treatment for the nervous breakdown which he suffered from after being kicked out of Pencey Prep. Holden is a very depressed young man, who greatly suffers from the loss of his little brother Allie, who died from leukaemia three years ago. Holden finds it difficult to connect with his peers and has no true friends, so he fights and criticizes everyone around him. In the novel, Holden becomes very overwhelmed after he fights his roommates Stradlater over his date with Jane, so he decided to leave Pencey without permission and ventures to New York City on his own. After Holden’s many adventures, he sneaks into his house to see his little sister Phoebe while his parents are out. Phoebe is the one person who he truly trusts and loves with all his heart throughout the entire novel.
Holden is a typical teen who refuses to grow up because he is afraid of the responsibilities that come with becoming an adult, however, he struggles to stay childish. For example, in the novel he does not want to take responsibility for his actions and constantly refuses to communicate with anyone. Holden has driven himself into an egotistical mindset that he cannot escape and one by one blocked all of his friends from his life. Holden childishness is illustrated when he avoids his parents in order to hide his secret. Holden does not want his parents to find out that he has been expelled from another one of his schools. Holden fears the consequences that he will face when he returns back home.
In the Catcher in Rye, Holden is frightened to talk to people close to him because they'll be critical to him and prefers to push his problems out of the way. This would also explain his lack of conversation with Jane Gallagher, a girl who he’s had a crush on forever”..I kept standing there, of giving old Jane a buzz- I mean calling her long distance at B.M... The only reason I didn't call him was because I wasn't in the mood." (pg. 63) Due to his fear of interaction with people close to him, he tries to socialize with strangers so the conservations never get to the point he feels uncomfortable. He does not want to face the world of reality. For example, Holden asks his taxi driver, who is a complete stranger, for a cocktail once he's done driving Holden to the Edmont Hotel, "Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail"" (pg. 60) Holden is in a constant fear of being criticized in which he prefers to interact with his cab driver over one of his friends.
However, Holden constantly encounters people and situations that he views as phony. Holden uses this word to describe anything that seems shallow or inauthentic. He see’s phoniness everywhere in the real world and believes adults are such phony’s and that they cannot see their own phoniness. Even though Holden is right that people can be fake, the novel makes it clear that his hatred for inauthenticity is self-destructive. He is constantly pointing out other people’s artificially yet he can be spurious himself. His deceptions are generally cruel, and he notes that he is a compulsive liar. For instance, when he was on the train to go to New York, he composes a terrible prank on Mrs. Morrow, a previous friend’s mother. Holden makes the reader believe that this is a pardon of virtue but in reality, this is not the case. The world is just not simple enough for Holden. He cannot abide to the same black and white standards with which he judges others.
Throughout out the novel, Holden shows a gradual transition into adulthood.

For example he has many sexual desires towards things he would think is perverted. For example, when he stays at Edmont, he openly admits, "It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes." (pg. 12) On the other hand, in some aspects Holden proves to the reader that he does not wish to grow up. In the novel, the ducks become a huge symbol of his innocence and his life. He is constantly concerned about the ducks in the lagoon and where they go in the winter. Just like the ducks, Holden is always wondering where is he going to go in life and what the future may hold for him. He wonders if someone will guide him in the right path or if it is an instinct that he will lead himself. In addition, the lake itself is also somewhat symbolic to Holden's life because the lake is always changing from frozen to melted as Holden is transitioning from childhood to adulthood. When Holden goes to visit the Museum of Natural History, he explains that he likes the museum because it will always be the same each time he visits, ”The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deer would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket" (pg. 121) Holden expresses that he wishes that he lived in the museum because nothing would change and time would stand still. This way, Holden would never have to grow up and remain

innocent.
The Catcher in the Rye is a relatable book for some teenagers, even though Holden is cynical and troubled. “Holden is a boy bordering on being an adult who fights every step of the process with extreme emotions, bizarre reactions, and obsessive lying. Salinger invests Holden with a sensitivity that prevents him from finding his place in the world, a feeling to which many teenagers can relate. The irony of Holden is that the harder he tries to keep his family and friends at arm's length, the closer he comes to making unexpected discoveries about them and even himself.”