Essay on The Death of Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye

At his age most kids are already sexually active, making them more adult in a way. The reason for this being that they are exposed to many things that younger, and more innocent children are not. With the protection of his virginity comes his innocence. Holden’s innocence is slowly being taken away as the novel goes on. When he goes to New York he is exposed to many things that normal kids are not used to seeing. He sees prostitutes for one thing, people who are the opposite of innocent and clean. Holden also has to be around a lot of phonies who make him realize hat the world isn’t perfect and that people lie and cheat to receive what they want. This is seen with Mr. Ossenburg, who takes advantage of other people while they are mourning their loved ones. He takes their money, which is supposed to go to a grave, but just ends up keeping it and throwing the bodies in a ditch. Holden meets many more phonies, and doesn’t want other children to be exposed to their dishonest nature.

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.

For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 40). To Holden, phoniness is all too common, especially at school, a place full of those who are fake and adult-like. In fact, sometimes, for Holden, being a part of the “adult world” automatically means that someone is a phony. Hence, Holden only likes the innocent, the ones who keep their childhood innocence and purity, and so, he isolates himself from all the phoniness that dares attack purity. Bungert even adds to this idea by claiming that “by virtue of his inner integrity Holden intuitively recognizes the phonies everywhere.

Holden is bashing others for being phony when Holden is a person with no remorse towards others and says what he wants because he always thinks he’s right. Many readers will think about these phonies that Holden encounters, but may not think about Holden being the bigger phony. Although it may seem that The Catcher in the Rye has a bunch of phonies due to Holden’s perception of people, the problem is that Holden is the actual phony and can’t accept the fact he’s grown up. Holden’s phoniness shows throughout the novel when he lies just for the fun of it and he even explains what a terrific liar he is, he does this due to being in denial about the fact that he’s growing up.

despises phoniness, people who exhibit hypocrisy, superficiality, and shallowness, because it complicates his ideological world where everything is "black and white;" ironically, believing himself to be the one virtuous man alive, Holden overlooks the vast amount of phoniness within himself. Holden shows his hatred for phonies when he goes to see a play with Sally Hayes. After the first act, Holden takes Sally out to get cigarettes with the other attendants and thinks to himself, "You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were. Some dopey movie star ... was with some gorgeous blonde, and the two of them

He often feels disconnected from society's expectations and social norms. Holden views every adult around him as a phony, and according to him, is someone who always acts fake instead of acting genuinely and pursuing their dreams. Holden views everyone as a phony because of his personal experiences of hypocrisy and deception, his perception of adult superficiality, and his desire to maintain child innocence. In '' The

Themes in literary works are central, recurring ideas or messages that allow us to understand more deeply about the characters. It is a perception about life or human nature that is often shared with the reader. In The Catcher in the Rye, there are several themes that can be found in the words and actions of the narrator, Holden Caulfield. The dominating theme in this novel is the preservation of innocence, especially of children. We can see this throughout the novel, as Holden strives to preserve innocence in himself and others.

Here, Holden desperately wants to escape the phony, corrupt world, so he proclaims his love to her, and asks her to runaway with him. She tells him that he is crazy and leaves him.

Partly of the basis on why Holden despites phonies is for their lack of insincerity. In other words, phonies do not have meaningful conversation

He recognizes that children are not phonies, they say what they want, do what they want, and do not care what others think. However, he sees that adults are the exact opposite. Their world, the phony world, is something he has no interest in being part of. As a result, Holden distances himself from maturing, consequently preventing any meaningful interaction from occurring for the duration of the novel. Holden uses phoniness to define himself subconsciously. When he labels everyone around him as phony he gives himself an excuse to alienate himself from others.

Holden has an apparent dislike for society. He insists that "[he] is surrounded by phonies (Salinger 13)" and left Elkton Hills because of it.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.

In J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, a young man named Holden Caulfield is on the edge of adulthood. He is a bright kid but struggles with many mental diseases mainly because of the passing of his brother Allie. This has caused him to not focus on school and has got him kicked out of many schools. He did not have many friends and he did not like many people. He thought of everyone as phony. Holden does not want to confront adulthood in fear of losing his childhood because of the fear of change, conformity to the phony world and the passing of his younger brother Allie.

Everyone is born into this world with a sense of innocence, completely oblivious to the cruelties of the world. However, as humans grow up and reach early- adulthood, they begin to realize the realities of this world, all that is real and all that is, in fact, a figment of the imagination. As people learn that it is truly impossible to stay hidden from the harsh realities of adulthood for their entire life, they also learn that it is impossible to shield others from these truths as well. They learn that although they may not be able to protect themselves from life’s misfortunes, they must perceiver, move forward, and not hold anyone back in their tracks. Just as all humans eventually learn to accept and move past life’s various misfortunes,

In many novels the title of the story is more important than most people initially think. It often reveals important information about the story. In The Catcher In the Rye, Holden says that his dream job would to be the catcher in rye. This is significant to the story because of how Holden feels that adults are trying to ruin the innocence of children, and how he can be the one that saves them. Holden then realizes he cannot always be the one to save the children. This is show throughout the book but especially in the scene where Holden takes Phoebe to the carousel.This shows that Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye so that he can help keep the children their innocence from adults.