Catcher In The Rye Research Paper

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The Spice of Life
It is strange that humanity fears death, when the act of living is far more painful. Survival is a talent. It is a victory only accomplished by the fittest. As the world’s renowned English geologist Charles Darwin stated, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change” (Purington). This idea of adaptability towards change has been challenge for humans ever since the beginning of the time. Change is inevitable. Nothing stays still. Life is in constant motion from the molecular to the planetary level and humans are changing right along with it. An example of someone who failed to understand that was Holden Caulfield. In The Catcher …show more content…

His acceptance for change was what led to the end of the story. The theme of story was that change is inexorable and it needs to be accepted.
The theme is evident in the story. The most drastic change that Holden could not accept was growing up. Rather, as the title suggests, Holden wanted to be the catcher in the rye. It referred to Robert Burn’s song, “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” Holden especially liked the lyric, “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye” (Salinger 195). He imagined all the world’s children are “in a field of rye located on the top of a cliff” (Salinger 196). According to Holden, they would fall off the cliff supposedly into adulthood. Holden saw himself as “the catcher who catches them from falling” (Salinger 197). This was Holden’s refusal towards adults and the concept of transitioning himself to adulthood. He viewed adulthood as fake and “full of phonies” (Salinger 14). A few bad people and his own misjudgements lead to this trust issue he formed with almost every adult he met. He met Carl Luce, an old advisor at his school. Carl was described to have a brazen personality as he, for example, used to “speak frankly about sex with the younger kids” (Salinger 78). During the meeting with Holden, however, he seemed irritated with his juvenile

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