Catcher In The Rye Chapter 22

The first time that I saw the title of J.D Salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye, I imagined the story in my head that it may be about child with nature. But after reading, that is not exactly what I have in my mind. This story is about the teenage boy, Holden Caulfield who fears the change from childhood into adulthood. He has bad attitude about growing up to be an adult. Holden would like to be the “Catcher in the Rye” because he wants to protect kids from falling off the cliff of childhood innocence into adulthood that he thinks it is the phony and depressing world. The phrase “catcher in the rye” appears first in chapter 16. Holden walks on the street and hears the little boy’s singing “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.”

He tells her about the lyric that he heard from the little boy on the street “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Phoebe corrects him because the lyric that he heard is wrong. The real lyric from the Robert Burns poem is “If a body meet a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Holden tells that he imagines the little kids playing in the big field of rye. He is standing on the edge of some crazy cliff for catch the kids if they come too close the cliff. The cliff symbolizes the real world. He would really like to do that although he knows it is crazy. His imagination shows his fear to grow up to be adult in his heart. He does not let the innocent kid is destroyed by the phonies in the real world. Holden knows his idea is crazy, this means his view of the world is strange and immature. “His catcher in the rye fantasy reflects his innocence, belief in pure, uncorrupted youth and his desire to protect that spirit” (SparkNotes,2007). He disconnects from reality. Holden’s mishearing of the lyric from “Comin Through the Rye” is significant that he chooses to hear the things that he wants to hear only. And he will do the things that he wants even if others do not want him to do. Another thing that shows he would like to be the “catcher” is when he sees obscene language on the wall in Phoebe’s school. He tries to erase it because he does not want the kids see it and try to find the meaning of the

If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” The “catcher” that he would like to be is unnecessary to the kids because they have to grow up by themselves. It means that the kids have to learn any things in both sides good and bad, happy and sad. Sometimes they may be hurt from the real world, but it is not always bad. They will learn from these to live strongly. It is the real life that everyone must face up to the fact. In this chapter, Holden begins to see and understand the real