catcher in the rye, innocence
In Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is introduced to the readers as a troubled young who desperately wants to protect his youthful innocence. Because Holden constantly faces harsh realities of adulthood and world, he is even more compelled to protect innocence. He wants to protect not only his, but also those around him. Holden feels that childhood is something to be saved and kept, instead of learning the truth of adulthood since the adult world is an impure place that corrupt kids and ruin their perfect perception of the world.
Throughout the book, Holden travels from place to place, discovering how adults truly act. As he gets sick of seeing such corrupted society, he wishes to escape from reality by talking to his younger sister, Phoebe. In chapter 22, Holden discusses what he wants to be when he grows up with Phoebe. He says that he wants to be the “catcher in the rye” and he doesn’t know why but that is the only thing he would like to be. He explains in a big field rye, he will be standing on the edge of a cliff, catching kids as they got close to the cliff. The big field of rye represents childhood and the rye is made high to limit kids from looking beyond, just as children are unable to see beyond their borders of childhood. Holden wishes to stand where the rye field of childhood and the cliff of adulthood separates, and protect kids from falling off the cliff into the impure world of adults. He aims to be the savior of the innocence in the world around him, a world that let him fall alone into the abyss of adulthood.
In order to be the protector of innocence in the world around him, especially Phoebe, he erases the “fuck you” graffiti in her school. He erases the marks because he wants to preserve Phoebe’s innocence. He doesn’t want her to fall over the cliff beyond the rye field because Holden already knows what she will have to go through. He wishes her to stay innocent as long as she can because once you fall, you can’t climb
Throughout the book, Holden travels from place to place, discovering how adults truly act. As he gets sick of seeing such corrupted society, he wishes to escape from reality by talking to his younger sister, Phoebe. In chapter 22, Holden discusses what he wants to be when he grows up with Phoebe. He says that he wants to be the “catcher in the rye” and he doesn’t know why but that is the only thing he would like to be. He explains in a big field rye, he will be standing on the edge of a cliff, catching kids as they got close to the cliff. The big field of rye represents childhood and the rye is made high to limit kids from looking beyond, just as children are unable to see beyond their borders of childhood. Holden wishes to stand where the rye field of childhood and the cliff of adulthood separates, and protect kids from falling off the cliff into the impure world of adults. He aims to be the savior of the innocence in the world around him, a world that let him fall alone into the abyss of adulthood.
In order to be the protector of innocence in the world around him, especially Phoebe, he erases the “fuck you” graffiti in her school. He erases the marks because he wants to preserve Phoebe’s innocence. He doesn’t want her to fall over the cliff beyond the rye field because Holden already knows what she will have to go through. He wishes her to stay innocent as long as she can because once you fall, you can’t climb