Holden Caulfield Innocence

Catcher in the Rye is J.D Salinger's most famous work. This tale follows Holden Caulfield as he wanders through New York as he attempts to make connections with various characters. While in New York Holden also tries his best to preserve the innocence of children everywhere .Though Holden desperately tries hard to preserve the innocence of the people around him, by the end of the novel, Holden began to realize that change is inevitable. He first shows us his desire to do this when he sees a young boy but he then gives up on his dream while watching his sister change before his eyes.
Holden first communicates to the reader that he enjoys the sight of childhood innocence is when he sees a little boy walking. He said that , "the kid was swell"

(Salinger 128). This made Holden happy because the child reminded him of himself. This is because kid kept walking on the curb even when, "cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place... and he kept walking and singing" (128-129). Like Holden, the child was oblivious to the fact that he was in danger. Because of this, it made him ,"feel better [and] not so depressed anymore" (129). Before this, he was still down about getting the crap knocked out of him the night before. Through this, Holden displays that the sight of childhood innocence makes him happy due to the fact that the child could've turned into a pancake without knowing. Thus showing one of the first signs that Holden enjoys the sight of childhood innocence.
Though showing us that he enjoys the sight of innocence, Holden shows us his intention to protect while recalling the boy's song, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye" (128). This was another thing that made Holden happy, at least later through his journey. He explains to us readers this after breaking into his families apartment. While in the apartment, he has an intense conversation with his wise younger sister, Phoebe. After she starts persecuting him for not trying hard enough in school, he tells her that ,"[he] pictures thousands of little kids playing in some big field of rye...and [he's] standing on the edge of some crazy cliff...[he has] to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff" (191). This was the big reveal of Holden's true intentions. The reason for his being. His motive for it all. Holden Caulfield truly wanted to be a savior of innocence. For the cliff represented the death of childhood youth and he wanted to spare children of the miseries of adulthood by catching them before it would be too late.
On the following day, Holden experienced as startling epiphany while leaving Phoebe's school.

While heading up the stairs, he found that , "somebody'd written 'Fuck You' on the wall. It drove [him] damn near crazy" (191). It wasn't the fact that that phrase was on the wall; what really bothered him was how all the little kids ,"[would] wonder about what it meant" (191). As he still felt like a protector, Holden rubbed out the sign. Later, he went down a different staircase and found another 'Fuck You' on the wall. He ,"tried to rub it off with [his] hand again, but this one was scratched on" (191). Unlike when he saw the first sign, he wasn't angry or frustrated. Instead Holden admitted that ,"it's hopeless, anyway" (222). Through this Holden began to realize that some things just have to be let go. In this case, it was childhood innocence. He began to understand that the children would eventually see something that would cause them to lose their

innocence.
Like a kid finding out that Santa doesn't exist, Holden was still saddened by the fact that all kids would eventually lose their innocence.

Eventually, he found the silver lining of it all when he and Phoebe visited an old carousel they'd rode when they were younger. He realized that the loss of innocence would be okay when he started monologuing about the carousel. He was a little worried because "all the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe..." (232). He was worried because "[he] was sort of afraid she'd fall of the goddam horse..." (232). Through his fear though, he realized that "If they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything" (232). For he realized that the gold ring represented the child's will to ditch their innocence. Through this, Holden fully realized that sometimes that letting go of innocence can be a good thing at times as well as realizing that if they lose their way on the pursuit of this, that its okay. He says this by admitting that "if they fall of, they fall off..." (232). Thus, Holden finally realized you must let your innocence go

eventually.
Over the course of the course of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden went from a character who wished to protect the childhood innocence that he once lost to a person who realized that its actually okay to grow up as well as watch those around you grow up. Over the course of reading this, I've learned a great deal of life lessons from it. Especially through his journey in search of preserving innocence.