Chapter 23 Of The Catcher In The Rye

Chapter 23 begins with Holden at his home talking to his teacher Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini is the best teacher Holden has ever had and he is the one who brought James Castle to the infirmary. Once Holden returns to Phoebe’s room they begin to dance and Holden is very complimentary of Phoebe’s dancing ability especially because she is so young. Holden’s parents then return home and Holden quickly puts out his cigarette and hides in the closet. Phoebe covers for Holden when their mom enters the room by saying that she had been smoking.

The next morning Jones wakes up with a hangover combined with terrible images from his dream of a white and black boy fighting with knives and the black boy slowly losing with each additional stab wound. Looking back Jones thinks of his place in America where he is a black man but all he wants is to be seen as just a man. When arriving to work Jones has decided to quit only to find the manager talking to every white boy that enters, rather than him. While on break he tries to get ahold of alice to discuss things only to find that she is out. Then he decides to go looking for Madge who is complaining to Don about bad gear from a black guy. Don brings up her date from the previous night prompting her to storm off. Jones again tries to find Alice

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

In THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger, Holden is talking to his younger sister, Phoebe, after he snuck into his apartment. During their conversation, Phoebe asks Holden what he would like to be when he grew up to which Holden responds with, "I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all." Holden's answer is naive and he himself criticizes the idea saying that it was "crazy." His answer allows the reader to delve deeper into Holden's character and interpret Holden as a protector of innocence. Holden's answer supports the novels underlying theme of how it is challenging to maintain childlike innocence in an adult-like world notioned by the Holden's imagery of a cliff and how "nobody big" is present.

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

The reader first encounters the phrase when Holden hears a kid singing the song on the street and advises “It made me feel not so depressed any more (p.129).” Later, when Holden is challenged by his young sister, Phoebe, about what he wants to do with his life, he tells her, “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 (p.191).” Holden described for Phoebe how he imagines a field full of children playing and how he would protect the children from falling off the edge of a cliff by “catching” them. It is also important to note that Phoebe corrects Holden’s lyrics as he had the words wrong.

“I swear to God I’m a madman” (149) Holden Caulfield says, revealing the wicked nature of J.D Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. The book follows 16 year old Holden Caulfield in his days spent alone on the streets of New York City after getting kicked out of prep school. During this time Holden goes on an alcoholic rampage, fueled by hate and filled with anger towards anything he sees as phony. The book has been the cause of major controversy since its release, with schools across the country banning it from the realms of teaching for decades. Now, it is read in many high school literature classes because of its alleged similarity to the way teenagers think. The Catcher in the Rye should not be taught to young, impressionable teenagers in public schools because of its rampant profanity, glorification of alcohol and tobacco use, and narration by a mentally ill, generally horrible person.

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 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.

That’s all i’d do all day, i know it sounds crazy, but that’s what i really want to be.” ( chapter 22). This supports my thesis because as Holden being the Catcher in the Rye means that he has already got a little bit of taste of the adulthood and seems like he didn’t like it, so he wants to stop all the children fall into the pit of adulthood while they’re playing in a field of Rye, falling without knowing where they are going, no clue what they are going to do next, just like Holden, he wants to prevent children from falling,

Throughout the novel, he displays a fondness of an unrealistic and simplistic view of the world. He has this “utopian” fantasy about how he would be the guardian of childhood innocence, and it symbolizes how he would save kids from growing up and becoming fake sanctimonious adults. He would be “standing on the edge of some crazy cliff… [catching] everybody if they [started] to go over the cliff…That’s all [he’d] do all day. [He’d] just be the catcher in the rye.”(Salinger, 224-225). Holden would stop the kids from falling over the cliff into adulthood. To Holden, becoming an adult is the ultimate downfall (no pun intended), and his idealistic view of stopping the innocent kids from falling off the cliff is displaying of his oversimplified perception of the world and how life is supposed to

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.

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

If you re all want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is when I was born. By to be honest right know that's the last thing I care about, I usually don't even care about anything all I really care about is my family. First I will start by telling you about me, well I am from New York and I am 16 years old, I also attend a private school it's called Percy prep it sucks and that's probably why I'm failing almost all subjects. Anyways today I was thinking about the homework that Mr.Spencer gave me, it was about a project that I needed to write a paper about someone that was special to me and why they were special. I wanted to go write about my brother Allie he's the best you will meet him when I go home for Christmas,

Linber Anej waded out in low tide to haul concrete chunks and metal scraps to shore and rebuild the makeshift sea wall in front of his home. The temporary barrier is no match for the rising seas that regularly flood the shacks and muddy streets with saltwater and raw sewage, but every day except Sunday, Mr. Anej joins a group of men and boys to haul the flotsam back into place.