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'SalingerSymbolism InCatcher In The Rye'

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Catcher EBR Salinger used erasing profanity and museums to convey his theme that everyone experiences a loss of innocence at some point in their life as it is unavoidable. Salinger uses the symbol of erasing profanity to symbolize an attempt by Holden to protect the school children's innocence. While Holden is waiting at the school to deliver his note to Phoebe he notices that someone wrote “fuck you” on the wall. Holden tries to save the kids' from seeing these bad words as he erases it off of the wall. However what he doesn’t realize is who wrote the explicit words. Holden assumes it was some homeless bum because he doesn’t realise that the kids' in the school know what these words mean. He just thinks that by erasing the words he save the kids innocence, like he is the “Catcher in the Rye”. “Somebody’d written “Fuck you” on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant.”(Pg, 221) “I figured it was some pervert bum that’d sneaked in the school late at night.”(pg,221) Holden still has this idea in his mind that all kids are innocent and that he can help them stay away from the adult world forever hence being innocent forever. He just assumes that it was some bum off the street, but that’s absurd as why would a random person just think that writing those words on the wall would be funny. Holden still

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