Catcher In The Rye Quote Analysis

Holden’s fear of change is obvious when he says, “It’s an old but terrific record” (128). Holden sort of has an obsession with old stuff. I think he like old things because it takes him back to his golden days where he was with his younger brother Allie, and that is the time he wishes would not change. Holden is willing to pay five dollars to get the record because it reminds him of himself. Holden says, “It was about a little kid that would not go out of the house because two of her front teeth were out and she was ashamed to” (128). Holden most likely likes the song because like him the girl is afraid of the changes of growing

This song is significant to this chapter because there are many different sides to Holden and one of them is being a little kid and this song talks about being adolescent. Holden

When Holden arrives, he finds Phoebe sleeping in D.B.’s room. "Holden!" she said right away. She put her arms around my neck and all. She's very affectionate. I mean she's quite affectionate, for a child. Sometimes she's even too affectionate. I sort of gave her a kiss”(161). When Holden arrives at his home for the first time since he left Pencey, he is tightly embraced by Phoebe, who is very happy to see him. Phoebe is the only person who loves Holden unconditionally. Phoebe is able to love Holden even when he makes poor decisions. Here we see how important to she is to him and he is to her. In this situation, Phoebe is very affectionate towards Holden because they love and appreciate each other would be when she sees her child after a long time. Phoebe and Holdens conversation changes very rapidly, from catching up to a deep, confrontational conversation lead by Phoebe. "You don't like anything that's happening." It made me even more depressed when she said that. "Yes I do. Yes I

❖ This is significant because it’s clear that Holden wants to shelter Phoebe from the pain of growing up. He doesn’t want her to have to deal with the phonies of the world.

The story goes on to explain the painfulness Holden is going through when he is facing growing up, he is scared to grow up and doesn’t want to see other children have to go through it so instead of trying to help himself he reaches out to others and tries to save them from the pain. I believe growing up is one of Holden’s biggest struggles in the book because in every part of the book he is faced or mentioning something that has to do with getting

That is the main reason why Holden does not like this school. Despite the fact that Phoebe is 6 years younger than Holden, he calls her “Old Phoebe”, since she listens carefully what Holden says, and understands him better than anyone else, even better than himself (75). She seems to be an adult, but only honest one. Holden believes in child’s innocence, and he does not want to be insincere with Phoebe in return. In addition, when Holden tells a little unknown boy that he has “his pants open”, this boy immediately buttons them up without any sign of embarrassment (223).

Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life and Holden’s only answer is to mention a lyric from a poem, “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye.” Holden says he pictures an enormous field of rye on a cliff full of playing children. The image is symbolic of Holden’s desire to stop or prevent the children from falling off the cliff into adulthood. This represents Holden’s aspiration to save both himself and other children from growing up. Phoebe replies that the actual lyric is, “If a body meet a body comin’ through the rye.” Holden’s misinterpretation emphasizes both his desire to shield children from the adult world, and his misunderstanding of just how innocent the world of children

Very early on in the book, Holden says,“I’m quite a heavy smoker, for one thing--that is, I used to be” (Salinger 5). Holden goes on to smoke and drink dozens of times throughout the book, both of which are behaviors that should not be occurring in his childhood. Holden does not see this as a sign of maturity (or immaturity), but he continues to judge others throughout the book based on their actions and appearances. Part of the intro to EDEN’s song relates well to this, “But everything I said, it went unheard/And everything you saw, with eyes straight blurred/Became our downfall/But you say I drink, and I smoke, and I talk too much” (EDEN). The difference between Holden and EDEN’s song is that EDEN knows that his behaviors are troublesome, and he is singing to someone about whom he cares, begging for forgiveness. He also says that he has been showing signs of his insecurities, but that she just failed to pick up on them. Holden is showing these same signs, but there is no one to pick up on them because he is alone for most of the book, and on the rare occasions where he is not, the people with whom he interacts do not know him well enough to care. Keeping with the theme of music, a song of Nelly’s, “Just a Dream,” also contains themes embodied by

In the excerpt from chapter twenty-three of Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is with with his little sister Phoebe and suddenly starts to cry uncontrollably. Phoebe tries to comfort him by putting her arm around his neck even though she seems a bit scared. This passage shows the relationship that Holden and Phoebe share with one another. To prove this, Salinger uses character relationship and visual imagery in order to illustrate to the readers the love they have for each other. In the beginning of the excerpt Holden lets the readers know that he is with Phoebe, then later on in the passage we are shown the relationship they have with each other when “she put her old arm around my (Holden’s) neck” (line 6).

The Catcher in the Rye is a coming-of-age novel by J.D. Salinger published in 1945. The novel shows this by the use of teen culture which started at approximately that time. The purpose of this novel is to entertain and inform the intended audience of teenagers. This is achieved through the use of irony, motifs, metaphors, and symbolism. This results in a relatable theme of protection of innocence, a realistic protagonist and messages that are beneficial for the audience.

Holden admires the record mainly because it’s not “cutesy”, even though the record is about a child; he refers to it as being sung in a Dixieland and whorish way. I think his main reason for liking the record is because it’s unconventional, by buying the record he is trying (too hard) to not be a phoney. Though it is strange that

When Holden sees a little boy singing to himself in the street, he begins to reflect on his own childhood, and the thought of being so young and pure, causing him to feel less depressed. He takes note of the family's disregard for the child as the boy walks out onto the street rather than the sidewalk. He also brings up that the parents were “walking” and “talking,” “not paying attention to their kid.” Holden gives the impression that he feels badly for the minor since he has no one watching him, however he also shows a hint of jealousy. Holden wants the boy to stay unadulterated and innocent. He does not want the boy to feel pushed by societal pressures into becoming someone he is not. He also wishes that he too could resemble that same spirit,

Most people that Holden talks to or even that he sees upsets him. This is bulkly made up of adults though. Children is the one thing that Holden seems to enjoy. The person he thinks about a lot of in his life is his sister Phoebe. Holden says," The kid was swell... he had a pretty little voice too...his parents paid no attention to him" (Salinger 150). It shows Holden's first reaction is that he enjoys the child, while the parents pay no attention to their kid's singing. Then when he goes to give the note to the office of Phoebe's school and passes the curse words that someone wrote on the wall, he immediately starts to try and get it off. Holden

Before Holden breaks the record, he speaks to Luce, a former classmate whom Holden sees as mature about sex. Holden is curious, but also confused about sex, like a child. When he asks Luce about sex, Holden passes it off as trying to be mature, but what it really shows is that deep down he is not ready to grow-up. Luce repeats that he doesn’t want to have a “typical Caulfield conversation” and asks him “When in hell are you going to grow up?” (146). Holden is trying to understand adulthood, but he is not ready to grow-up because of his immature behavior. He then drops the record, symbolizing his loss of innocence, depicting his fear that adults are “phony” and when he ages, he will be as well. His collection of the broken pieces of the record are not only representative of his fear of leaving childhood, but his fear of Phoebe leaving childhood. After he drops the record he says the pieces “weren’t any good for anything, but I didn’t feel like throwing them away” (Salinger 154). This is symbolic of Holden’s childhood innocence ending, but his refusal to enter into adulthood and trying to hold onto every piece of childhood he has left. When Phoebe then takes the broken pieces of the record and keeps them, Holden feels a sense of calm because he feels that even if his innocence is gone, he can still preserve his sister’s. Holden hopes that the record will remind Phoebe of him even when he is

When Phoebe asks her brother if he would like to ride the carousel, Holden replies, “‘No, I’ll just watch ya. I think I’ll just watch’” (Salinger 212). The dialogue between these characters represents acceptance of his becoming an adult. This scene in the novel serves as Holden’s metaphorical initiation into the adult world as well as his acceptance of his sister’s growing up. Holden has a tendency to want to protect children, especially Phoebe, from the hypocrisy of adults. He reflects on the pivotal moment by stating, “I felt so damn happy all of the sudden... I was damn near bawling. I don’t know why” (Salinger 213). Perhaps the reason behind Holden’s indescribable happiness is the release of his anxiety and fear regarding growing up or even sense of pride for Phoebe as she begins to mature and enter the adult world.