How Is Holden Caulfield Preservation Of Innocence

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

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.

One of the greatest American Literature writers, J.D. Salinger, was familiar with a rough childhood by experience. He was able to parallel his experiences to the experiences of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in Rye. In this novel, Holden experiences conflicts that most youth are not familiar with. The conflicts in Holden Caulfield’s life are caused by various forces and circumstances.

J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye presents a look into the mind of Holden Caulfield, a popular literary icon numerous teenagers have rightfully found themselves relating to at some point. While the familiar emotions of Holden were welcoming for me, his anecdotes and witty remarks proved entertaining as well. The story chronicles Holden’s exploration through New York post-expulsion, with his point of view influenced by his growing alienation with the world. He represents that growing sense of unease at growing up and facing a reality that is not always pretty, and, in his case, a need to save children from having to face that reality. I personally admired the fact that he was not just an angry teenager in the world as stereotypes suggest.

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s outlook in life is either the innocence of childhood or the cruelty of adulthood. He believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and it should be protected from

Instead of acknowledging that adulthood scares and mystifies him, Holden invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of superficiality and hypocrisy (“phoniness”), while childhood is a world of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. Nothing reveals his image of these two worlds better than his fantasy about the catcher in the rye: he imagines childhood as an idyllic field of rye in which children romp and play; adulthood, for the children of this world, is equivalent to death—a fatal fall over the edge of a cliff. His created understandings of childhood and adulthood allow Holden to cut himself off from the world by covering himself with a protective armor of cynicism. But as the book progresses, Holden’s experiences, particularly his encounters with Mr. Antolini and Phoebe, reveal the shallowness of his conceptions.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about growing up. It explores the obstacles we all face during our transition from child to adulthood. The tragedies and triumphs, the breakthroughs and setbacks, the happiness and heartache. As you follow the book's protagonist, Holden, through his journey into adulthood, you learn about his life, but more importantly, you learn about your own. You grow to sympathize with the young rebel, and you begin to see traces of yourself in him.

By acknowledging that adulthood scares him, Holden invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of (“phoniness”), while childhood is a world of innocence and honesty. A teenager trying to find a way to be true to himself while growing up in a world are full of phonies, but part of him wants to connect with other people on the adult level (and more specifically, to have a sexually encounter), while part of him wants to reject the adult world as “phony”. Conformity is inevitable because the ability to feel social pains and pleasures, links to behavior that is the same of most other people in a society, group, etc. The Catcher In The Rye illustrates a teenager’s struggle against the social pains about death and

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. In the book Holden hears a quote “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he want to live humbly for one” (Salinger 188) which he embraces as he matures throughout the story. Holden’s opinions of childhood and adulthood change as he grows through experience.

Discussion Questions This is the first time I have read Catcher in the Rye. I appreciate the transparency of the novel— Holden’s thoughts on, girls, loss, growing up, sex, adults, his encounter with prostitution, alcohol, smoking addiction, mental trouble, closure and quarrel with the idea of change. I was startling at first by the blatancy and honesty of the book. The topics discussed are those that have the tendency to be kept in the shadows, whispered about behind closed doors, or turned a blind eye to.

In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye the main character and narrator Holden, is stuck in between two worlds, a childhood he hasn’t left and an adulthood he is too afraid to enter. Holden wants so badly to protect the innocence of the children that haven’t grown up yet but wants to break down the barriers of being an adult and pushing past all his problems from losing a loved one, to flunking out of boarding school, and from wanting so badly to love and be loved. Holden pushes through his journey of growing up and molding himself into an adult.

While phoniness and loss of innocence are unavoidable parts of life, Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye, cannot seem to accept it which leads him to depression and mental instability. Holden is easily aggravated by any impression of phoniness and he realizes that all adults exhibit pretentious qualities. As a result, he tries to protect all children, the only innocent beings in his life, from being exposed to phoniness. However, growing up and losing innocence are not preventable, thus causing him to exhaust himself through his useless efforts. Holden’s dislike towards phoniness and hypocrisy in the adult world leads him to try and protect the innocence in younger generations and ultimately leaves him disappointed in his inevitable failure to do so.

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel written by JD Salinger, and it was first published in 1951. The protagonist is Holden Caulfield. Holden is a sixteen year old teenager who is extremely troubled; he was expelled from four schools; he exhibits a lack of concern toward his future; he is hospitalized while narrating the story; he is visited by a psychoanalyst while there; and he has difficulty communicating with other people. Additionally, Holden exhibits a conflict with the idea of entering adulthood. Therefore, a central idea in “The Catcher in the Rye” focuses on the hostility Holden faces in terms of his anxiety about transitioning into adulthood.

Holden struggles with dealing with adults and the real world, so his trust lies in kids, as they are innocent to him. He calls the adult world and the adults around him “phony”. So Holden’s goal is to protect children from the phoniness of adulthood. To do this, Holden’s goal in life is to become “The Catcher in the Rye”, which is to catch children before they fall into the phoniness of adult life. He finds pleasure in doing this so much he says, “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” (Salinger 173). Holden’s pride in this is due to his distaste in adolescents and corrupt adults. It is so important to him that he thinks “This struggle for preserving the purity and security of childhood is to Holden the only thing which makes life worth living” (Bungert 4). Holden believes so strongly in protecting innocence that he is willing to do it over