“The catcher in the rye” argues that children's innocence should be protected for as long as it can be. Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye, Holden sees the rye field as this gigantic field that overlooks a cliff. The rye field is a gigantic field filled with children. Holden wants to be the person who catches the children before they go over this cliff. This cliff represents the”descent into adulthood” or the loss of innocence”. Holden wants the children to retain innocence for as long as they possibly can. This explains why Holden covers up the words “f*ck you”, he’s afraid that the kids will see it and someone will explain to them what it means. This ties into why Holden can never go through with a sexual encounter, because at heart…
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the subject matter of Innocence is explored as Holden’s quest throughout New York City unfolds and his views on society develop. The novel is narrated by Holden Caulfield who is telling us the story of how he got to the mental hospital where he is currently a patient. Holden starts off at Pencey Prep, a preparatory school in Pennsylvania but eventually leaves after he is expelled. Holden wanders through New York City where he originally plans to go home after 5 days but continuously ponders the idea of running away after he visits his sister Phoebe. Throughout the novel, Holden’s mental state worsens dramatically and eventually leads to his mental breakdown. In Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s…
In the novel The Catcher and the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden expresses his hate for the idea of growing up and becoming an adult, as he sees the majority of adults as phonies. Along with that, he regards the process as taking away your innocence and freedom. With his view of adulthood, he hates the idea of children having to go through what he did and losing their innocence. He often praises children, placing them as superior to adults.…
Holden believes in keeping children innocent while Baby has been exposed to the loss of innocence at an early age. For instance, Holden becomes frustrated when he sees graffiti at Phoebe’s elementary school: “... I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written “F*** you” on the wall. 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…”(Salinger 201). It irritates him and causes him to rub it off so no one would see it. This demonstrates how protective he is over children, in his desire to keep their innocence. When he visits Phoebe, he reveals to her his dream of being the catcher in the rye:“.. I have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff-- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I have to do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 173). Holden wants to “catch” children before they lose their innocence. He wants them to stay in their childhood forever. However, Baby’s situation is quite different as she loses her innocence at a very early age. Due to the fact that, Jules has been a drug addict since before she was born, Baby has learned all about it. She knows that ‘chocolate milk’ is code for heroin and she knows…
As Holden goes through the book he realizes he doesn't have much childhood innocence left. For example, “Hey how old are you anyways?” "Me? Twenty-two." "Like fun you are. "It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a real kid. You'd think a prostitute and all would say, "Like hell you are" or "Cut the crap" instead of "Like fun you are." (Salinger 105,106) This shows Holden notices that ironically sunny the prostitute still has some innocence left. In addition, this really affects him, how can someone so young act this way. Younger children really got to Holden. They were so young and had so much ahead of them. For instance, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deer’s would still be drinking out of that water hole.” (Salinger 135) This shows that Holden wishes he didn’t have to grow up. He continually looses his childhood innocence everyday. The life lesson I concluded from this theme is that eventually we all have to grow and just because are childhood goes doesn’t mean our innocence…
In today’s world, innocence cannot be preserved forever. As humans age, they lose their innocence due to the corruption that exists in society. This is demonstrated in the two novels, Catcher in the Rye and Frankenstein. The two authors, J.D. Salinger and Mary Shelley prove this statement through their use of various literary devices. Key characters in both novels- Holden and the creature- learn through personal experiences that innocence cannot, in fact, be preserved forever, and they both face the reality of corruption.…
Innocence, the theme repeated so many times within the novel. Our hearts all want to hold on to the innocence that we had as children. However, the adult world doesn’t allow for innocence, it only allows blood, sweat, tears, and stress. This spiritual theme of innocence is described perfectly when Holden states "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this 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.” (Salinger, 191) He is spiritually saying that he would like to be the guardian of innocence stopping children from falling into the terrors of…
No matter how much a person strives to remain young and innocent, eventually all children grow up and innocence fades. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden, values innocence and does not believe that children should lose it as they become adults. The early death of his younger brother, Allie, causes Holden’s constant need to prevent the loss of innocence in the people he cares about most and in himself.…
Holden's desire to be the 'Catcher in the Rye' comes from his realization, near the end of his horrible, nearly sleepless weekend of cigarettes, alcohol, phonies, and freaks, that he isn't ready and doesn't even want to be an adult. He also knows he is different from his sister, Phoebe, that he is no longer a child. He has seen too much reality to still be a child, even though he is only 16 in the story. He doesn't have a home like a child would. He feels like he is someone in between adulthood and childhood. The catcher in the rye, is sort of like Peter Pan, helping children and keeping them safe from falling off the cliff of innocence into adulthood. Holden loves the simple, straightforward and honest world of children, and he hates the adult world of phonies and perverts.…
He could not understand how God could take away the life of such an innocent child. He felt “like praying or something, when [he] was in bed, but [he] couldn't do it.” (Salinger 99). Holden concerns himself with the innocence of children , as his fight for them is his ultimate battle. He tries to preserve childhood innocence but it is a fight that he cannot win, and characters like Mr. Antolini recognize that Holden is “riding for some kind of terrible fall. But [he doesn't] honestly know what kind”(186). This leads him to the same question that Elie faces. He doesn't know whether or not to keep fighting for the innocence or to he give up. This question deeply affects Holden and he debates with himself about it throughout The Catcher in the Rye. They all look for the correct answer, but they don't realize that there is none. Holden cares about the innocence of the children so much that it takes a serious toll on him and “how [he] got sick and all” (213). He can't continue to care so much or else it will bring his downfall. Even though he cannot win, Holden continues his fight. Despite being told he will fail he refuses to give up. The compassion is such a weight on him and he doesn't know how to take care of it. He is in the midst of his decision between compassion and survival and it is unanswerable to him. Is it worth going on caring even though he can never win,…
It is a natural tendency for all men and women to dream but sometimes these dreams may be unattainable. In J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has a desire to preserve the innocence of children and save them from adulthood. He is a victim of the “Peter Pan Syndrome,” a condition that aspires to remain young. The experiences that Holden has had leads him to believe that the adult world is dangerous, full of phonies and perverts. This perception of the world makes him feel that “[he has] to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” and be “the catcher in the rye.” Caulfield wants to protect the innocent children from falling over the cliff that bridges the gap between childhood and adulthood and letting them go through similar experiences he has had. Holden acknowledges that "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” Holden is afraid of the effects that reality will have on children and by…
One of the recurring themes of The Catcher in the Rye is the difficulties experienced during adolescence. For Holden, it is particularly problematic. He feels a great desire to preserve his innocence partly because Allie never fulfilled…
When Sunny the prostitute comes to Holdens’s hotel room, when he visits the museum, and when he lies to Mrs. Marrow on the train are all examples of controversy and loss of innocence in the novel.…
In The Catcher in The Rye, by J.D, the main character, Holden, can be seen as a troubled teenager growing up in a less than perfect society. Throughout the novel Holden struggles with the fact that many young and innocent kids will grow up and see the world from a different perspective. He naturally becomes worried for all future generations who will one day grow, as he did, and loose their innocence. The fixation of youth and innocence can be seen in the title of the book, as well as throughout the novel.…
There are many examples in the Catcher in the Rye, that show Holden's hate toward the idea of losing innocence. Holden mentions a lot about children, his love for them and how he wants to save their innocence. He seems to relate more to people younger than him, whether they are male of female. He cares about them so much, becuase they haven't lost their innocence, unlike adults who are all "phonies." There are three main things he does and talks about, that shows his concern. His fascination to save innocence, erasing profanity, and Allie's baseball glove.…