Catcher In The Rye Innocence Essay

Innocence is a key part of a child’s life as the child has not yet experienced the cruelty, violence and immorality of the adult world. In the text The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, as a result of Holden’s fear of the adult world, this leads to his desire to protect innocence, ultimately leading to his mental breakdown. The novel shows a teenage boy’s desire to protect innocence which leads to his mental instability in attempting to deal with a world that clashes with his ideals. He only finds interest in children's innocence because they have yet not entered the phony adult world. The museum of natural history, which is unchanging, shows Holden’s desire to protect and preserve the innocence of children. Holden attempts to erase profanities

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.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

Everyone is born into this world with a sense of innocence, completely oblivious to the cruelties of the world. However, as humans grow up and reach early- adulthood, they begin to realize the realities of this world, all that is real and all that is, in fact, a figment of the imagination. As people learn that it is truly impossible to stay hidden from the harsh realities of adulthood for their entire life, they also learn that it is impossible to shield others from these truths as well. They learn that although they may not be able to protect themselves from life’s misfortunes, they must perceiver, move forward, and not hold anyone back in their tracks. Just as all humans eventually learn to accept and move past life’s various misfortunes,

Themes in literary works are central, recurring ideas or messages that allow us to understand more deeply about the characters. It is a perception about life or human nature that is often shared with the reader. In The Catcher in the Rye, there are several themes that can be found in the words and actions of the narrator, Holden Caulfield. The dominating theme in this novel is the preservation of innocence, especially of children. We can see this throughout the novel, as Holden strives to preserve innocence in himself and others.

When we grow up we’re raised to do our best and to be mature. People know their right from wrongs. Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye by, J.D. Salinger the main character goes through a difficult life and time growing up. Growing up too fast is not the answer for everything. The main character Holden Caulfield is a misfit because he is very dramatic, he avoids facing things, and he shows reckless behavior.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells a story of a young boy, Holden, who never quite understood his stance on life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles to adapt to the inevitable transition into adulthood, often worrying more about others than himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses connotative diction, repetition, and specific diction to convey Holden’s struggle of accepting life changes that led him to becoming mentally unstable.            To start off, Salinger illustrates Holden’s nature by using connotative diction.

Likewise, Holden is also consistently rejected when he seeks help from others. On Saturday night, Holden rides the cab to Ernie’s. During the ride, Holden “sort of [strikes] up a conversation” with Horwitz, the cab driver, about the ducks in Central Park (Salinger 81). Holden does not know where to go and feels lost, relating himself to the ducks during winter. However, Horwitz blatantly shows no interest in the ducks and diverts the conversation to the fish in the pond instead, thinking that winter is “tougher for the fish” (Salinger 82). Despite his curiosity, Holden quickly drops the conversation after seeing that Horwitz is getting frustrated with him. In addition, Horwitz also rejects Holden’s invitation to have a drink. Later on, Holden hires Sunny, a prostitute. Although Holden claims to be a sex maniac, he is still a virgin. Thus, as Sunny begins to take off her clothes, Holden feels peculiar and embarrassed. He notices Sunny’s childish habits, such as her “teeny little wheeny-whiny voice” and lack of use of vulgar language (Salinger 94). In addition, Sunny starts “jiggling her

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

Growing up sucks, anybody who is currently a teenager or was understands that and will fully acknowledge it. There is just something about this age group that life changing events occur, whether or not the person is ready or not to experience them. Most of the time, it is something like learning what a curse word means or experiencing the act of sexual intercorse at a young age. But sometimes it can be as serious as losing a loved one, being the victim of sexual assault, or any other traumatic event that just like a punch to the gut, acting is a welcome call to what is about to come. In author J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, it recalls the story by the narration of a

In many novels the title of the story is more important than most people initially think. It often reveals important information about the story. In The Catcher In the Rye, Holden says that his dream job would to be the catcher in rye. This is significant to the story because of how Holden feels that adults are trying to ruin the innocence of children, and how he can be the one that saves them. Holden then realizes he cannot always be the one to save the children. This is show throughout the book but especially in the scene where Holden takes Phoebe to the carousel.This shows that Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye so that he can help keep the children their innocence from adults.

Leaving your childhood years behind to become an adult can be difficult to adapt due to the growing responsibilities, and pressure to be successful on your own. In the novel, the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a boy growing up in the fifties fights with the idea of growing up. Yet, it is something that all people are bound to experience. Holden refuses to put effort into school and is expelled again for his actions. Holden tends to act immaturely and impulsively decides to wander around New York City while avoiding his parents.

The protection of children and their innocence is necessary until they begin the inevitable transition of growing up. Through Holden’s interactions in the novel, Salinger develops the theme that it is important to recognize the changes that everyone must face in order to mature and prepare for adulthood. The development of minor characters is necessary to understand why Holden wants to protect the innocence of children from the corruption of the adult world. At the beginning of the novel Holden expresses his regret from not being able to protect Allie from death causing himself a major loss of innocence. Holden later faces Sunny and can’t help but feel that her innocence was taken from her too early.

Growing up may seem daunting to most, but it is a necessary part of life. In the novel The Catcher in The Rye, J.D. Salinger portrays Holden as a teenage boy who cannot accept this concept. The novel shows Holden’s thoughts and take on the world over the course of three days. Holden consistently judges other characters and avoids communication with them until finally, he has a complete mental breakdown. Salinger uses the characters Allie and Stradlater to symbolize stages and aspects of life to show that one must eventually accept confrontation and interaction with the adult world.