Why is one’s innocence constantly questioned by the world? In the books “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Slinger and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, they share a common theme that is innocence and the maturation of children through by having their characters, Holden Caulfield, Scout Finch and Jem Finch, portray them through multiple situations. These three characters go through these situations for the reason one questions their maturity and innocence.
“The Catcher in the Rye” has a very unique protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Throughout the book, innocence and purity of childhood is what Holden struggles the most to protect. According to Sigmund Freud “children's basic sexual and aggressive desires would determine
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Holden appears to always run into either women he knows or he starts talking to one. He has the intention of having sex with them but always turns the opportunity down. In one of the scenes, he is in a hotel in New York and he asked to bring up a prostitute to his room,” if you want to know the truth, im a virgin. I really am. Ive had quite a few opportunities to lose my virginity and all, but ive never got around to it yet.” (Salinger 100). He talks about losing his virginity but its clear to say that he is afraid to. Maybe the reason being he doesn’t want to make this big “adult” decision. There’s a lot of “acting” in this novel such that Holden is always pretending he’s an adult. “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.” (Salinger 19). Holden is trying to make himself appearolder by always smoking a ciggerette or sitting in bars or even trying to sleep with women. Holden reminisce’s a quote from a poem, “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” (Salinger 128). His sister corrects him later saying that …show more content…
She is always allowing herself to learn something new and to mature at a fast rate or at least intend to. Scout learns many lessons throughout the novel. The crucial lesson taught by Atticus helps her in the novel, that is: you’ll never understand until you’re in their shoes. “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view….until you climb into his skin and wak around in it.” (Lee 45). Scout learns this lesson by understanding Boo’s perspective. When Scout finds out that the men surrounding her father wanted to hurt him, “ Atticus said nothing. I looked around and up to Mr. Cunningham, whose face was equally impassive. Then he did a peculiar thinng. He squatted down and took me by both shoulders. “I’ll tell him you said hey, little lady.”” (Lee 206). She took it upon herself to go up to Mr. Cunningham and to start an innocent, friendly and mature conversation with him. He was reminded that he was neighbors and friends with Atticus. The final event is Scout was confused as to why her teacher, Miss. Gates, was a hypocrite, “ Nome, Miss Gates, it sayshere− well anyway, old Adolf Hitler has been after the Jews and puttin’ ‘em in prisons and he’s taking away all the property and he wont let any of ‘em out of the country and he’s washin’ all the feeble-minded and-“ (Lee 327). She’s a hypocrite when it comes to her hate towards Hitler and his hate towards jews, but she has the
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger develops Holden Caulfield as a morally ambiguous character. Throughout the book, Salinger speaks as Holden and introduces him as a callous and subjective individual. However, the author permits the reader to be within Holden’s mind, giving the audience an alternative perspective of Holden’s true character. Without the obscurity of Holden’s personality, the work would lack a crucial element. As the protagonist, Holden serves as an equivocal adolescent that is relatable for the reader.
J. D. Salinger's notable and esteemed novel, Catcher in the Rye, reflects the hypercritical views of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a distinguished vision of a world where morality, principles, intelligence, purity, and naivety should override money, sex, and power, but clearly in the world he inhabits these qualities have been exiled. Holder desperately clings to and regards innocence as one of the most important virtues a person can have. However, he son becomes a misfit since society is corrupted and he yearns for companionship, any kind of connection with another to feel whole and understood again. Ironically, despite his persistent belittling and denouncing of others, he does not apply the same critical and harsh views on himself.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
Have you ever pondered about when growing up, where does our childlike innocence go and what happens to us to go through this process? It involves abandoning previous memories that are close to our hearts. As we can see in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we listen to what the main character; Holden Caulfield has to say about it. Holden is an average teenager dealing with academic and life problems. He remains untouched over his expulsion from Pencey Prep; rather, he takes the opportunity to take a “vacation.” As he ventures off companionless in New York City, we are able to observe many things about him. We see that Holden habitually states that he is depressed and undoubtedly, wants to preserve the innocence of others.
This reveals Holden’s fantasy of an idealistic childhood and his role as the guardian of innocence. Preventing children from “going over the cliff” and losing their innocence is his way of vicariously protecting himself from growing up as well. Holden acknowledges that this is “crazy,” yet he cannot come up with a different lifestyle because he struggles to see the world for how it truly is, and fears not knowing what might happen next. Holden’s “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in a pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect it. This fantasy also represents his disconnection from reality, as he thinks he can stop the process of growing up, yet
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a coming-of-age novel set in New York during the 1940’s. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story, is a detached seventeen-year old boy harboring feelings of isolation and disillusionment. He emphasizes a general dislike for society, referring to people as “phonies.” His lack of will to socialize prompts him to find nearly everything depressing. He’s alone most of the time and it’s apparent that he is very reclusive. This often leads him to pondering about his own death and other personal issues that plague him without immediate resolution. Holden possesses a strong deficit of affection – platonic and sexual – that hinders and cripples his views toward people, his attitude, and his ability to progressively solve his problems without inflicting pain on himself. The absence of significant figures in his life revert him to a childlike dependency and initiate his morbid fascination with sexuality. In this novel, Salinger uses Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce to incorporate the hardships of discovering sexual identity and how these events affect adolescents as they try to understand their own sexuality.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
Holden never seems to have a pleasant time interacting with the adults and the world they've created. Holden describes the hotel he was staying at as being "lousy with perverts (Salinger 62).” At the hotel, Holden characterizes every adult he sees as a pervert. He does not know any of them but because they are grown up he sees them strictly as perverts, despite who they truly may be. However, Holden does try to fit in amongst these alleged “perverts” but later in the novel his inability to engage with a prostitute demonstrates how despite his efforts to belong in the adult world he is still childlike. Salinger uses Holden's childlike ways along with his inability to conform to societal normalities to express how he views the adult world as something he doesn't want to fully commit to. Salinger puts Holden is suspended development in order to prove how hard it is to fully belong in the adult world, especially if its occupants are already corrupt in their own ways. Throughout the novel Holden prefers the company of children over the company of adults as he believes adults to be fake and perverted. While at Ernie’s bar one of D.B.’s old acquaintances, Lillian Simmons, strikes up a conversation with Holden. Lillian hasn’t uttered the words to Holden when he prematurely deems her “strictly a phony (Salinger 86).” Holden wants nothing to do with
Throughout the history of literature, a great deal of authors has tried to reveal a clear understanding of the American Dream. Whether it is possible to achieve lies all in the character the author portrays. The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye stand as prime examples of this. F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger, the authors of these titles, respectively, fashion flawed characters, Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield, with one vital desire: the longing to gain what they can’t have; acceptance and the feeling of belonging. Each retaining characteristics that shows their differences and similarities in opinion of the world around them.
The Catcher in The Rye, written by J.D. Salinger describes the story of a teenaged boy named Holden Caulfield who is obsessed with purity and preserving innocence in society. Holden has mental issues and his family sends him to too many private schools, in which he gets kicked out of all of them. His younger brother Allie died at an extremely young age and Holden remembers experiences he had with him very vividly. Allie’s death is one major factor that contributes to Holden obsession with purity and his mental problems. Holden’s obsession for purity is clear in his admiration of innocence in children, goal to keep society pure, and attempts to prevent children from engaging in sexual intercourse.
Holden is curious of what sex has to offer, however, this contradicts that he doesn’t want things to change and is scared of losing his innocence. At a point in the novel Holden says, “In my mind, I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. Sometimes I can think of very crumby stuff I wouldn’t mind doing if the opportunity came up.“ (p. 67) However when he is put to the test, this curiosity proves to be misleading. During his stay in New York he calls a prostitute to his hotel room but when he is given the opportunity to sexually interact, he prefers human affection over casual sex. He even makes up excuses, for example, when he says, “the thing is, I had an operation very recently.” (p. 105) By rejecting this opportunity of sexual interaction he tries to preserve his innocence and make him appear more innocent compared to other characters in the novel. Holden is also scared of intimacy since he is wary of who he trusts. This stresses the feeling of alienation which Holden experiences throughout the novel because of his fears and isolation from
The 1950’s novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, revolves around a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who is expelled from school and decides to spend a few days in New York before he goes home. The shift of no longer being a child, but not quite being an adult is present in the novel. As Holden narrates his difficult transition to adulthood, it becomes clear he is puzzled by the changes around him. Throughout the novel, Salinger uses characterization and symbolism to show Holden’s fear about entering the confusing adult world.
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
The trope “parent-child relationships,” encompassing both parental and mentor relationships, appears in many stories or texts. Not surprisingly, parent-child and mentor relationships run throughout all of the books examined this year in English class, most obviously in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. The two protagonists in these novels, both of whom are boys struggling to find their place in the world, have significant adult figures who try to guide them in their journeys to maturity.
Holden Caulfield has an utter lack of understanding of appropriate behavior around children. He also exudes guilt and the desire to run away and start all over again, and has very little understanding or ‘parental’ affection. These and other pedosexual behavior can be found in abundance throughout J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Holden shows the desire for intergenerational intimacy, not necessarily rape. It is plainly proven that Holden is among the growing minority of people, such as NAMBLA, that simply has a love of children, as a homosexual loves a man.