Self-Exploration in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye

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The dreadful time period of growing up causes misery and awkwardness. Although it cannot be avoided, making the most out of it is possible. Holden Caulfield, despite being an unreliable narrator, guides readers through a self-evaluation that teaches them about growing-up. His problems create a basis for an analysis that everyone should go through to discover their inner self. J.D. Salinger, a cunning puppeteer, turns Holden into a puppet to show his views on life. In the coming-of-age story, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses Holden Caulfield to help readers draw parallels to their own lives. He intended for readers to see their youthful side, uniqueness, and maturity.
J.D. Salinger uses Holden to express how people display their youthful …show more content…

Salinger knows that having maturity is equally as important to growing up. Holden wants to stop kids from losing their innocence, but it is impossible for him. In essence, he wants to be the catcher in the rye. The catcher in the rye is a job where children who fall down the slope of lost innocence are saved by somebody at the bottom. While Holden is in Phoebe’s school he notices “Fuck you on the wall. It drove [him] damn near crazy” (Salinger 201). Holden is disgraced by the fact that is written on the walls of an elementary school. He wants to erase it to protect the children, especially Phoebe, but he cannot do it as it would take too long. J.D. Salinger shows that, despite how we, as the readers, want to prevent kids from losing their innocence, we cannot. We may try our hardest, but we cannot stop children from reaching for the golden ring. Kids “want to grab... the golden ring, [and] you have to let them do it” despite how concerning it might be (Salinger 211). In the novel, the golden ring on the carousel that Phoebe is trying to reach for represents maturity. Children are going to try to “grab” maturity and they will eventually succeed. J.D. Salinger believes that we should let children do that because it will eventually happen. The Catcher in the Rye teaches us that children will still grow up no matter how hard we try to stop them from doing

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