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Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence

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Throughout the course of human history one fact has not changed and that is all people are different and face challenges and troubles. Literature is an easy way to share and better comprehend one’s problems. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a 16 year old boy who is struggling with the change from being a child to being an adult and confronting the unavoidable loss of one’s innocence. Holden is a unique character and his problem is a major theme throughout the story represented through multiple characters, his actions, and even a song and an object.
The Catcher in the Rye is a beloved novel, despite its vulgarity and sexual reference; however, those are topics that are present in the loss of innocence. When Holden finds out that
Stradlater took …show more content…

Later on in the novel when
Holden meets the prostitute, he thinks “I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing.” It is believed that Holden was upset that she was living that life and that she lost the innocence of childhood along the way and was possibly forced into that kind of adulthood. Holden’s actions show readers who he is and how deeply he feels about the difference in childhood and adulthood.

When Holden Caulfield visits his sister, Phoebe, they discuss a song and Holden’s misinterpretation that turns out to be “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye”. He then tells Phoebe about the image that entered his mind at the words which consisted of children running through a field of rye and they start to fall off a cliff when he catches them. When
Holden states that this is the only thing he would really like to be, it allows readers to notice his fierce desire to protect the innocence in others.
At the end of the novel, Phoebe gets upset with Holden for not allowing her to go with him and feels betrayed. Holden then promises that he will stay and convinces her to go for

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