At the age of 9, a little girl is counting down the days until her next birthday because double digits are a big deal. Now she is 12 and is still counting the days until she can call herself a teenager. For years people cannot wait to be another year older… until they actually become older. As people grow up they accept that maturing means taking on responsibilities and adulthood. Having sleepovers and play-dates, taking naps, and climbing the monkey bars becomes taboo. The simplistic life of a child quickly changes into the dull reality of school and work. People will spend years wishing they were older; but when the time comes, they hope to go back to their innocence. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger writes a stream of consciousness …show more content…
In a conversation Holden has with his sister Phoebe, she asks him what he would want to be. In response, Holden says, “... I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. ... I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t know where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them ... I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (Salinger 224-225). Holden reveals his desire to be the protector of innocence and the reader sees that he would rather live in his own fantasy of innocence, than face the reality of the world around him. In his dream world, Holden wishes to be someone who protects children’s innocence. Similar to a child, Holden oversimplifies real life and has his own fantasy of what he wants to do. Lott and Latham stated in regards to Holden and his journey while finding his identity and say, “... the heroes also experience disillusionment with themselves and with the world around them as they move from innocent idealism of the very young to a more realistic acceptance of personal limits and social imperfections” (24). During the novel, it is obvious that Holden is stuck between the worlds of adolescence and adulthood. Holden 's obsession with innocence causes difficulty in accepting the responsibilities of adulthood. Everything is considered “phony” by Holden, except for what is still innocent. Holden is completely fixated on all forms of innocence and wishes to stay in
He begins to own up to his mistakes and starts to build stable relationships with his peers. In a conversation with Phoebe Holden mentions that he wants to be a catcher in the rye, and save children from falling off the cliff. Being a catcher in the rye is a metaphor that represents Holden's dream of saving people and leaving a lasting mark on the world. “ I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy”(186). When we enter this point in the book we can really get a feel for how much Holden has matured as he has begun thinking about others and not just focusing on himself. Although Holden has progressed in his track towards maturity he still tends to sway away from maturity. Holden continues to impolitely disagree with others and argue his way to the top in order to achieve what he desires, “Daddy's going to kill you.” Phoebe suggests, then Holden comes right back and states “I don't give a damn if he does” (186). This example shows that Holden still has a fixed mindset on his ideas and doesn't allow for new thoughts to persuade him to change his opinions. This forces us to view him as immature as we do not see a man who is incapable of interchanging ideas with others and therefore unable to interact with his
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden 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.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield’s interpretation of the world is extremely negative, emphasizing the presence of evil, primarily in the form of phoniness. This view of the world remains a constant, yet Holden later learns to compromise on his dream of being the catcher in the rye and aversion to all things deemed “phony”.
First, many readers tend to agree that this book deals with Holden’s growth into maturity. Throughout the book it is obvious that Holden’s central goal is to resist maturing as much as possible, and readers tend to believe that Holden is afraid of change and the reality of the unknown. Holden believes that the adult world is a superficial world and that his childhood resembles a world of innocence, curiosity and honesty. The reader can assume that Holden often relates childhood to children playing in a field of rye where as adulthood is equivalent to death. However as the book progresses, Holden later discovers how wrong he was about adulthood.
Holden continuously makes explicit remarks regarding the phony actions adults commit. For instance, in the beginning of the story, he talks about parent visiting days in his former school and the way his principal would always charm the richer parents and disregard the poorer parents. (Salinger 14) In addition, Holden makes many remarks regarding the phony characteristics of adults throughout the book. Ironically, while Holden looks down upon being superficial and “phony”, he subconsciously hosts this trait himself. This is shown many times throughout the story, but most particularly when he speaks of his former roommate’s cheap suitcases. The difference in wealth between him and his roommate were highlighted through the quality of their suitcases, and Holden felt uncomfortable while rooming with him because after a while, the apparent difference in class drove a large rift between them. Holden states, “…I hate it when somebody has cheap suitcases.” (108) This is incredibly ironic, because it shows that despite Holden’s catty remarks about the phoniness hosted by many adults, he is subconsciously growing to become like them, despite fervently not wanting to grow up. At the same time, the contradictory discourse of Holden’s idealistic world comes out into play as he conceives scenarios where he runs away to live away from the prying eyes of society. He attempts to convince Sally to run away with him while on their date, however when she is not on board with his idea, he attempts to realize his mission by himself later on, although he does not end up going through with it. Holden also formulates the idea of wanting to become the catcher in the rye after witnessing a boy singing “if a body catch a body in the rye” and having a vision of him catching playing children in a rye field from falling off of a cliff. This
He depicts a mental image of a field of rye filled with happy, smiling children dancing, prancing, and running towards the edge of a cliff unknowingly. Holden wants to be there to catch every single child. Stating that this was all he wanted in his future seemed metaphorical for growing up. In Holden’s mind, growing up was like falling off the cliff, falling into adulthood, falling into becoming “phony” people, with “phony” jobs, and “phony” attitudes. He wants to save all the children from enduring this. Holden views growing up with negative connotations, and behaved the way he did because of tribulation of loss he suffered as a child. His childhood, though not terrible, was hard for him. He remembered Allie positively, before he was “phony.” Allie never got the chance to grow up, but Holden didn’t want
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
At a significant point in every life innocence is lost and maturity is stumbled upon. A Bildungsroman novel often expresses the coming of age of a character. People often mature from the stage of adolescence, maturing into a young, whole hearted adult. Looking back in life, everybody can find a pivotal moment of their life, even if it was not obvious at that time in which it happened. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield matures into a young adult. Holden matues solely when he sees that someone else has innocence that needs to be protected and savored. While Holden, in The Catcher in the Rye, may have had to overcome many struggles and challenged, he underwent an experience with his kid sister, Phoebe, and
He tends to put more emphasis on the innocence of others in society rather than his own. Holden gives the readers insight on his fixation with children and preserving their innocence in chapter 22 when he says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing in some big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around- nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (224). Even though his goal is unrealistic, even unobtainable, Holden continues to believe in this dream and lives his life according to this goal. Holden’s use of the phrase “I’d just be the catcher in the rye” in this sentence, he not only gives an explanation for the title of the book; in fact Holden reveals his true ambition. He wants to be what his brother is for him, a guardian angel. Without his brother’s vital role in the story, Holden would not be the person he aspires to be for others. The Cather in the Rye portrays Holden as a depressed introvert who hates the world because it is phony, but on the other hand by Holden sharing his fantasy, it shows how many teenagers may also feel about growing up, and the belief that by falling of this cliff, or becoming an adult, they would lose that sense of innocence and their simplistic view of the
When Holden has a glimpse of himself being the catcher in the rye, he mentions: “thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around- nobody big, I mean- except me” (Salinger 173). This means that the field is full of children, not adults. Therefore, Salinger’s demonstrated use of growing up shows that Holden welcomes the fact that he doesn’t want to grow up and wants to protect the kids from adulthood. When Holden imagines himself saving the children, he states: “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them” (Salinger 173). This shows that Holden would save the children from falling which means he wants to protect them from growing up. With this in mind, Holden realizes that everyone must grow up and to Holden, it’s an upsetting reality that he refuses to accept. As Holden experiences this vision, he realizes what he wants to be when he grows up: “That’s what I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be” (Salinger 173). This shows that Holden is stuck in a “holding” pattern and until he is able to face reality, he will never be able to move forward in his life. Therefore, this shows that Holden
Salinger uses the theme of the protection of innocence as his main character’s motivation to elaborate upon Holden’s
Salinger additionally demonstrates that the loss of innocence is inevitable due to time and age. Salinger anew uses Holden to portray this message through Holden’s thoughts of the museum, that “The best thing, though, in the museum was that everything always remained the same.” (Salinger 121). Holden clearly has a difficult time surrendering his childhood innocence, however, he does recognize that “The only thing that would be different would be you”, in that innocence will be lost (Salinger 121). Salinger communicates that people are always changing, and losing their innocence is one way in which they must change. This can be further supported with the fact that towards the end of the novel, Salinger makes Holden let go of his innocence when
Infants are born completely helpless in the hands of their caregivers; they possess no worldly knowledge and are incapable of handling themselves. As they age into children and even young adults, an aura of innocence continues to surround them. However, this innocence fades as they mature into hardened adults. The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is a classic coming-of-age tale following the experiences of 16 year old Holden Caulfield. Holden struggles to transition into adulthood as he succumbs to vices such as alcohol and drugs, and fails out of four schools. Holden’s control over his physical and mental health diminish, but his vigilance over the wellbeing of children never falters. In the novel, Salinger uses characters, motifs, and symbols to convey the importance of protecting the innocence of youth.
Holden constantly find ways to escape from the path of growing up such as escaping to a cabin or moving to the west. He explains that adults are phonies and they are so phony that they can not see their own phoniness and this is one of the reason why he wants to protect Phoebe’s innocent and stop her from growing. Alongside Holden does not want Phoebe to faced the issues that he faced while growing up ranging from sex to intimacy to death. Holden’s protectiveness is shown when he went to Phoebe’s school and sees a profane word written on the wall and Holden states, “ It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them...” (201) Holden’s anger come from his thoughts of how kids would ask and learned this world and how it would be the moments of corruption of innocence and departure from childhood. Holden scratched the word off the wall as an act that he wants to protect children from falling into these types of sensibilities, moreover Holden had become more selfless. To preserve kids innocent is also a prime reason for why Holden is so fascinated to become the catcher in the rye and to protect the kids from falling into the adult world of sickness and ugliness. Holdon actively seek to find ways to withdraw Phoebe from the crushing reality of growing up but however adolescence is a stage in life that no one can avoid and Holden seems to be slowly understanding the matter of that. As Holden watches Phoebe on the carousel and he thought about how the kids kept making mistakes. “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”(211). This marks a significant change in Holden as