Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence Analysis

Holden has very noble goals, he wants to protect children’s innocence. He says to his little sister “‘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

Holden then realizes that he wants to help preserve children’s innocence before they go out in to a corrupt world. He wants to become a catcher in the rye, and catch children before they go off the “cliff”, as he did. “ What I have to do, I have to catch everybody 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.”(P173) Holden can be compared to peter pan in the

Holden has numerous distinct attributes pertaining to both childhood and adulthood. His transition from growing and relational life, to an uncontrolled spiritual realm, this stresses him. He has instances of introspection that helps him encompass a realization for his own livelihood. When he shares with his sister Phoebe what he would sincerely like to do with his life he says “I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (Salinger 173) That quote reveals the reasoning for the title of the book because Holden wants nothing more than to protect the innocence of children.

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,

Holden is talking about protecting the children so they will not experience the cruelty of the adult world. If he catches the children before they fall, he will preserve their innocence and keep them from the cruelties of the adult world. Holden’s only desire and goal in life is to be the catcher in the rye because is the only job that is appealing to him where he can shows his love and protection for childhood innocence, “That’s all I’d do all day. I‘d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be” (173).

In J.D.Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, the main character of the novel, is a walking paradox who desires to hold onto his innocence and ,in his mind, thinks that people who lose their innocence will either turn into a “phony” or a “jerk”. During his journey towards trying to preserve his innocence Holden affected his desire to hold on to his innocence through his action, such as his experience with a prostitute named Sunny, his interaction with Sunny shows him that most of the world of adults is just an illusion. Another person who affects Holden desire is his 10 year-old sister Phoebe Caulfield, his interaction with his sister phoebe shows how it’s ok to lose your innocence because with the loss of that innocence you

After Phoebe asks what he wants to be when he grows up, Holden goes into detail and illustrates, “… 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—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’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all”(Steinbeck 191). Holden values a child’s security in the highest regards and is willing to save one from hitting the bottom of a cliff. As the bottom of the cliff represents the unpleasant and demanding world of adulthood, Holden is finally separating himself from childhood and accepting that he is an adult. After Holden encourages Phoebe to enjoy the carousel, he observes, “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them…”(Steinbeck 232). Holden is overprotective over his younger sister Phoebe, except when she is on the carousel and he learns that she can develop her own independence. Noting that children also have risks and decisions they have to make themselves without adult interaction, like reaching for a gold ring but knowing the risk of falling. Holden can finally completely separate his adult self and his child self, and only look back with nostalgia. Earlier, Holden regards himself as “the catcher”, the savior who protects children from frightening reality of adulthood, but after seeing a lot of maturity in Phoebe he encourages her to reach for “the gold ring”, without any need for safety and

Holden tells Phoebe that what he actually wants to do when he 's older is he wants to be the "catcher in the rye". He tells Phoebe the lyrics to the song that the boy was singing, "If a body, catch a body, coming through the rye." Phoebe corrects him telling him that the song he is referring to is actually a poem, and the correct lyrics are "If a body, meet a body, coming through the rye." He acknowledges her, but he believes he is right, being as he 's the older brother and all. Using the lyrics that he believes are right as his inspiration he creates a fantasy world, making himself the

Innocence is a beautiful thing to appreciate. Sadly, all people lose that innocence to the impurity of the world. In the novel, the Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Salinger uses symbolism that is found throughout the novel to portray the theme that losing innocence is an inevitable process in the human development. He depicts this theme by adding hidden messages to things that the main character, Holden, interacts with, such as his red hunting hat, the swear words on the walls, and Holden dropping the Little Shirley Beans record on the ground.

Arguably, the novel’s most obvious symbol can be found in the title. Holden discusses and explains with Phoebe that he wants to be the “catcher in the rye”. He imagines himself wearing a giant baseball glove, ready to catch the kids as they ponder and fall off the cliff while playing in the rye. The children in the poem symbolize childhood. Furthermore, the field in the poem represents innocence, the action of falling from the cliff is the fall from innocence. Moreover, Holden symbolizes the protector of children, he protects them from losing their innocence and childhood. Furthermore, it also represents his desire to avoid the harsh reality of the adult life. Ironically, Holden mistakes the meaning and words of the song, much in the same way he mistakes the cause of his torment, it comes from himself, not from others. For example, "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,'" I said. "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 – I mean if they're running and they don't look where

Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye and save the children from falling off the cliff. This cliff, however, is the real world, and Holden himself is afraid of it so he wants to protect children from it. This is also demonstrated when Holden visits his sister 's school and sees swears written on the wall. This makes Holden very mad, "It drove me damn near crazy. I thought of how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they 'd wonder what the hell it meant…But I rubbed it out anyway, finally"(201). Holden was able to protect the children for a short while but a few moments later he sees the same thing written on the wall again. Only this time it is scratched in with a knife or something and Holden is unable to rub it away like before and realizes "It 's hopeless, anyway…it 's impossible" (202) he indicates here that growing up and facing certain reality is inevitable. Holden finally realizes that he can 't protect the kids from the real world when he watches Phoebe ride a carrousel at the zoo. "All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring…this thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let

“Catcher In The Rye”, is Holden’s dream. He stands in a field of rye, while catching children who are playing too close to a cliff. This represents his love of children’s innocence. When he sees kids who are innocent and how real it is, it makes him very happy. Little things upset him, such as bad words on a wall, because of how powerful pure innocence is to him.

As the story proceeds, we see Holden accept the fact that children will “fall off the cliff” and there’s nothing anyone can do, this represents the struggle of preserving the innocence of children versus letting them experience the way of life on their own. The next day, after seeing his little sister, Phoebe, he decides that he wasn’t going to wait until wednesday to leave for the woods, but he was going to leave that day. Phoebe was at school and he wanted to tell her about this new plan and to say goodbye to her. He walked to her school and wrote a note to give to the principle to give to her, before walking into the school, Holden sits down on the steps “While [he] was sitting down, [he] saw something that drove [him] crazy. Somebody’d written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. It drove [him] damn near crazy” (Salinger 221). Holden discloses that he was so angry with someone writing this absurd word on the wall, that he was ready to bash whoever it was and even kill them. This shows a whole new side of Holden, he behaves irrationally and violent over the cause of someone defiling school property and subjecting children to “jump over the cliff” of innocence and adolescence. Children grow up and lose their innocence at all different ages and there is no way to preserve it in ways like how Holden wants to. Our society manipulates ways of contorting children’s innocence in ways exhibited like this.

Growing up is a complicated and emotional phase that everyone has to experience. Our innocence is like a mask that blinds us from perceiving life as it really is. As we grow up, we lose our sense of innocence and begin to see the world differently. In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who fears maturity for himself and the children around him. The theme of innocence is found throughout the novel, as Holden struggles to protect the innocence of children from the superficiality and shallowness of the adult world.

One of the main conflict’s in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is the recurring theme of innocence. Holden attempts to resist maturing and wants to live his life as an innocent adolescent, by staying the same, like the exhibits in the Museum of Natural History. As he reflects on the corruption of innocence