Loss Of Innocence In The Catcher In The Rye By JD Salinger

Loss of Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye
Author JD Salinger was drafted into the army during World War II for several years, and, upon his return, he wrote his novel The Catcher in the Rye, a novel about a teenage boy named Holden who wanders around New York following his expulsion from Pencey. It is then interesting that his topic of choice was children, who seem to be an unlikely topic because of their innocence. Salinger perhaps chose this topic because the ideas of innocence and loss of innocence are so intertwined with his experiences at war. In his novel, JD Salinger argues that innocence and corruption are not separated by a fine line and that they coexist in individuals as Holden learns that children need to be allowed to fall from

innocence.
For the majority of the novel, Holden is trying to hold on to this idea that people can stay the same because of his fear of the idea that everyone will eventually lose their innocence, and it is for this reason that he spends much of the novel in anguish. When he is in the Museum of Natural History, he remarks that the best thing in the museum was that “everything stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move...Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you’d be much older or anything. It wouldn’t be that exactly. You’d just be different, that’s all” (158). Holden loves that “everything [stays] right where it [is]” because, to Holden, the museum is a shelter from from the constant change in the world. The museum is very important to him because in a world where he keeps changing, which makes him feel “different,” the idea that some things can stay the same appeals to him. This ideology extends to his view on children and is why he does not want them to lose their innocence. When Holden is walking on Broadway, he finds this kid singing a song and says that “the cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb and singing [...] It made [him] feel not so depressed anymore” (150). The imagery of the “cars [zooming] by, brakes [screeching] all over the place” represents the baggage that comes with being an adult. However, the child is oblivious to all that is going on around him like an innocent child, which is what appeals to Holden. However, Holden has to rely on rare instances such as these to feel even “not so depressed anymore,” which shows how Holden lives in anguish because he cannot accept that children will fall from innocence.
Holden then realizes that children will inevitably lose their innocence, but he sees this realization as negative because he believes that innocence and corruption are completely separate and that children cannot retain a level of innocence once corrupted.

When he is at the Phoebe’s school to say goodbye to her, he sees “fuck you” written on the wall. He rubs it out, but realizes that he could never be able to rub off all of them in the world and says, “That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you’re not looking, somebody’ll sneak up and write ‘Fuck you’ right under your nose” (264). The description of a place that is “nice and peaceful” convey a simplicity to life that suggests the idea of innocence that Holden admits will be corrupted. Based on the tone, Holden is evidently sad about this. When Holden says that “somebody” will sneak up, it reflects how Holden feels negatively about his realization. When he envisions this “somebody,” he assumes that some “pervert” snuck into the school to write the message when it is much more likely that it was done by a student, which is significant because though he sees that children will be corrupted, he does not realize that children themselves can be a source of corruption. Holden is afraid of children being a source of corruption because in his mind, he draws a distinct line between innocence and corruption and believes that once corrupted even a little bit, children cannot retain a degree of innocence. This is why Holden is so obsessed with where ducks go in the winter. When he is in a cab heading to Edmont Hotel, he asks the cab driver, “‘You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?’” (78). The ducks in this passage represent children, and the lake freezing over represents

their loss of innocence. Holden is so concerned about the ducks because he is worried that children cannot return from innocence when they have been corrupted.
However, by the end of the novel, Holden realizes that children need to be allowed to fall from innocence and that there is not a distinct line between innocence and corruption, but that a degree of each exists in an individual. When Holden is at the carousel, Holden is trying to convince her to ride it, but she thinks she is too big: “‘I'm too big.’ she said. [He] thought she wasn't going to answer [him], but she did. ‘No, you're not. Go on’” (272). Holden learns that there is not a defined line between innocence and corruption. This is why when Phoebe says she is “too big,” Holden contests her. Her ability to ride the carousel at her size represents that even as children fall from innocence, their innocence is not completely lost. At the carousel, he watches “all the kids [keep] trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and [he] was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but [he] didn’t say anything or do anything. 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” (276). The imagery of the children reaching for the ring without regard for themselves alludes to the earlier image children in the rye fields running off the cliff in Holden’s fantasy. Holden realizes that is it unwise to attempt to stop children from falling because it will happen in the end no matter what, which is a big idea in the novel. The tone of this passage reflects that Holden has begun to feel positively about allowing children to fall from innocence. The way he does not “say anything or do anything,” shows how he has changed as a character.
The novel ends with a tone that is very at-peace and accepting. The idea that children are bound to lose their innocence fits well with this accepting tone because it supports the larger idea that acceptance of things that are beyond our control is a path for peace. The accepting tone is a triumph for Holden, who has spent the majority of the novel in anguish, has achieved peace of mind through acceptance of this fact, which is the main idea in the novel.
Nihar: This is amazingly extended and well developed for an in-class essay. That’s impressive, but, as a matter of fact, it may be a bit belabored in places, when being more precise direct and to the point would actually be more effective. I love that you’re noticing tone, but I think you can do even more with tone: is Holden’s change good or bad? Does the novel argue for cynicism about innocence? Pay a bit more attention to the way you integrate quotes in your revision.