The Theme of Innocence in The Catcher In the Rye

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In many novels the title of the story is more important than most people initially think. It often reveals important information about the story. In The Catcher In the Rye, Holden says that his dream job would to be the catcher in rye. This is significant to the story because of how Holden feels that adults are trying to ruin the innocence of children, and how he can be the one that saves them. Holden then realizes he cannot always be the one to save the children. This is show throughout the book but especially in the scene where Holden takes Phoebe to the carousel.This shows that Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye so that he can help keep the children their innocence from adults.

Almost everybody in the Catcher In the Rye gets Holden upset in some way. That is, almost every adult. Holden seems to enjoy children. The person he loves most in life is not his father or mother it is his sister Phoebe. When Holden says," The kid was swell... he had a pretty little voice too...his parents paid no attention to him" ( Salinger 150 ). It shows how Holden immediately enjoys the child, while the parents seem careless about their kid's singing. Also when he goes to deliver the note inside Phoebe's school and sees the curses written on the wall, he immediately tries to get rid of it. He gets mad at the person who wrote it, he shows this when he said, " I kept wanting to kill person who had written it. I figured it was some perverty bum that'd sneaked in the school last night to take or leak or something and wrote it on the wall." ( Salinger 260-261) This shows that the first person he thinks that would write such a thing was an adult, he never thinks it could be a kid at the school. This also shown when Holden describes his dream j...

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...ds to save Phoebe or save her from falling off the rye, but then decides to let her take a chance. This is the transformation of Holden trying to be the catcher all the time to Holden letting the children go off on their own. This last scene is one of the more important scenes in the whole book.

Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye so that he can help keep the children their innocence from adults. He tries to do this when he attempts to erase the curses on the walls that he encounters. One of the most important sections of the story that help explain the title is the scene when Holden takes Phoebe to go ride on the carousel. Being the catcher in rye would allow Holden to help the children save their innocence. Holden first feels that it is his responsibility to make sure that the children keep their innocence but then realizes that he does not have to.

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