Examples Of Fear In Catcher In The Rye

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Many people live their lives in fear, whether its fear of heights, fear of death, or fear of the dark. Fear has the capability to alter ones perspective on life and impact the way they live. In J.D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is an exemplary example of this idea. Holden is afraid of the realities of his life; he is constantly in fear of losing the people around him, he fears the loss of faith in himself, and he fears the loss of innocence. He starts to change his behavior and acting in order to avoid facing these inevitable realities. It is this fear of loss that is the root cause of Holden’s downfall. Firstly, Holden fears the loss of those around him, whether by death or emotional abandonment. From a young age, Holden experiences what the feeling of loss is through the death of his younger brother, Allie. Allie died from Leukemia at only eleven years old and his death continues to affect Holden and he never gets over it. Through this tragedy, Holden not only loses Allie, but he also emotionally loses the rest of his family. His older brother, D.B., moves away to become an author and doesn’t keep in contact with Holden much, his father is always at work …show more content…

He fears this loss to such an extent that he goes out of his way to preserve and protect it for everyone and everything. It has become such a big part of him that he feels it is what defines him and if he doesn’t succeed, he feels he is failing himself more than he already does. Holden does his best to protect his own innocence as well as everyone else. One way Holden tries to protect his own innocence is shown by his incident with the prostitute. Holden likes the idea of being sexually pleased and agrees to receiving services from a pimp, but when it becomes real and the girl shows up, he can no longer follow through. The reality of his situation hits him as seen in this

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