Catcher In The Rye Textual Analysis

When Phoebe asks Holden what he likes, he replies by saying, "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 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. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (Salinger 173). The top of the cliff symbolizes the innocent child life, but below the cliff symbolizes the adult world of phoniness. Holden wants to catch the children before the run off into the phony adult world. In conclusion, Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye” as he wants to catch children’s innocence before they fall into the phony adult

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.

“Life is a carousel. It goes up and down. All U gotta do is just stay on.” Pharrell Williams. In Catcher in the Rye, Salinger represents the golden ring that the kids and Phoebe reach for and Holden allows her to mature and move on. Holden didn’t want Phoebe to reach for the ring, he wanted her to stay away and preserve her childhood. Soon he realized it was the wrong thing and that if she was ready to mature, then he should let her. Holden states,” 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 it’s bad if say anything to them” (Salinger 232). This is similar to the cliff scene where he no longer feels the responsibility of saving the kids

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

In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the first person narration played a critical role in helping the reader to know and understand the main character, Holden Caulfield. Salinger also uses symbolism to help portray the theme that not everything that glitters is gold. Holden, in his narration, relates a flashback of a significant period of his life, three days and nights on his own in New York City. Through his narration, Holden discloses to the reader his innermost thoughts and also helps to introduce the reader to many of the symbols strategically placed throughout the novel. He thus provides the reader with not only information of what occurred, but also how he felt about what happened. In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the

During the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, author J.D. Salinger brings Holden’s pessimistic, antisocial personality to life through what he says, how he says it, and through the characters he meets. Salinger bases Holden’s expressions off of the culture of the 1950’s, his own personal dialect, and the everyday occurrences of Holden’s life in mind. J.D. Salinger manipulates the diction, uses syntax to criticize others, and controls the character interaction and dialogue in order to create the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

The quote above taken from Chapter 23 of Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" depicts a conversation between Holden and his younger sister Phoebe after he sneaks into his parents apartment. It shows how Holden, the narrator doesn't want to grow up to be a part of the phony adult world. Instead he wants to "just be the catcher in the rye." Holden would just "have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff" which symbolically makes him a protector of the innocence of children before they have to grow up and join the adult world by taking that leap off the edge of the cliff. Through his longing tone while talking about the rye the reader sees the reluctance Holden carries with himself to grow up and get a real job among the adults that he

In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger uses a variety of symbols to support the thematic idea that maturation and the loss of innocence are an inescapable rite of passage for all of humanity. Three significant symbols that signify the importance of alteration and losing one’s purity to become more suited to live in the real world are the ducks in the lagoon of Central Park, the “Catcher in the Rye”, and the carousel and the gold ring. Furthermore, these three symbols hold a significant meaning for the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield as well.

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

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, was a skilled writer who included many distinct symbols in his writing. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger strategically placed objects around Holden, the protagonist, that have deeper meanings than their initial appearance. Holden is struggling with his own mental state and how he perceives the world around him. Throughout the novel, Holden refers to the people around him as ‘phonies’. This is perhaps because he is struggling with his own self-image and insecurity about being authentic and mature. Holden struggles with the idea of childhood innocence and he wants to protect his sister, Phoebe, from the harsh reality of adulthood. When Holden takes his sister to the carousel, he anxiously watches as she reaches for the gold ring, which in this case symbolises adulthood. Another reoccurring symbol in The Catcher in the Rye is Holden's red hunting hat. In his times of need, Holden would put on his hat as a way to isolate himself from the world around him. The strategic use of symbolism throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye gives the reader insight into the mind of Holden and how he perceives the world.

As Holden observes the elders and adults in his world, he senses a loss of innocence from when they were children. He sees the adult world as “phony”, influencing himself to avoid falling in to the cruelty of the adult world. He wants to catch children before falling in to adulthood before they lose their innocence just as how many children are lost while playing in a rye field. “That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses Holden Caufield’s physical appearance and actions to enhance the theme of the loss of childhood innocence and the phoniness of society. During Holden’s visit to Phoebe, he recites a poem by Robert Burns to her and tells her that he wants to be the person who will “catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… if they don’t look where they’re going… I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 173). Throughout Holden’s time living alone in the adult world, he consistently identifies ‘phonies’, or people who aren’t genuine and full of themselves. He strongly dislikes this attitude and and wants to ‘catches’ or help children to not grow up and falloff of the cliff of adulthood and become a

Through Holden’s description of his choice to become the Catcher in the Rye, he encompasses his desire to help people who are not able to help themselves. When thinking about his dream job, Holden keeps “‘picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.’” Because there is no adult around except for him, standing on the edge of a cliff, Holden’s responsibility is “‘to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-- ... if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them’” (Salinger, 191). Through his subconscious, Holden is expressing his desire to help people who cannot help themselves. He is the one person who has the power to aid the vulnerable children. Although there is no exact education to prepare for this job, in a vocational school, Holden could take his desire to help people and turn it into a

However, as the novel nears the end, Holden experiences his pivotal moment and takes on a different perspective of life. Rather than just going through with his plan of isolating himself from the superficial society, Holden decides to stay and face it, with its adulthood and phoniness. Seeing Phoebe attempt to grab the gold ring along with other kids, Holden thinks to himself, “I was... afraid she’d fall off... 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... If they fall off, they fall off” (211). Holden reaches the conclusion that he can’t be a catcher. He can only watch the children and in no way can he avert them from committing their own wrongdoings; he is not able to save them from shedding their innocence as they grow older and they will eventually. Releasing himself from the task, “[Holden] felt so damn happy” (213). A burden has lifted as he liberates himself from such a responsibility. He doesn’t have to carry the weight of executing the responsibility he shackled himself with, one that greatly affected him mentally. He knows that he does not have to keep up this pretense anymore.

In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the character Holden makes an analogy between the transition from being a kid to an adult to a person catching someone right before they fall into adulthood. When Holden sneaks into his house to talk to his sister and tells her that he "have [has] to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff." In this quotation the cliff represents the the border between childhood and adulthood and if one were to fall of the cliff, the person would become an adult. This analogy is significant because the readers get a sense of what Holden wants to do in his life. Holden talks about how it is "all I'd do all day" which sends a message to the readers that not only does Holden himself not want to transition into adulthood, but he also does not want others to become adults either. The last sentence of the quotation "I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all" allows the readers to have a been understanding where the title of the novel came from. It helps the readers infer that the novel is about someone who tries to prevent people from becoming adults thus keeping them in their childhood.