Theme Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

Innocence is a key part of a child’s life as the child has not yet experienced the cruelty, violence and immorality of the adult world. In the text The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, as a result of Holden’s fear of the adult world, this leads to his desire to protect innocence, ultimately leading to his mental breakdown. The novel shows a teenage boy’s desire to protect innocence which leads to his mental instability in attempting to deal with a world that clashes with his ideals. He only finds interest in children's innocence because they have yet not entered the phony adult world. The museum of natural history, which is unchanging, shows Holden’s desire to protect and preserve the innocence of children. Holden attempts to erase profanities

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.

Holden does not want adolescents to become adults because he believes that adults are corrupt and he wants to protect them from this corruptness. This is seen when Holden tries to erase the swearing words on the walls of an elementary school that Phoebe attends. Holden angrily tells us, “… I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written 'Fuck you' on the wall... I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant…” (201). Holden was angered because this proves that the innocent world of children has already been corrupted by the profanities of the adult world. In addition, profanity in such places like an elementary school distresses him because he associates it with Phoebe, little kids, and innocence. Thus, their innocence is tainted by these profanity words on the walls. He does not feel comfortable allowing small children to be

On page 203 it says “I went down down by a different staircase, and I saw another “fuck you”on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something It wouldn’t come off.” This shows how Holden is desperate to remove the “fuck you” that's written on the wall because it’s something he doesn’t want Phoebe to see and this is because Holden just wants Phoebe to have a normal childhood until she is actually exposed to the horrible life of being an

In today’s world, innocence cannot be preserved forever. As humans age, they lose their innocence due to the corruption that exists in society. This is demonstrated in the two novels, Catcher in the Rye and Frankenstein. The two authors, J.D. Salinger and Mary Shelley prove this statement through their use of various literary devices. Key characters in both novels- Holden and the creature- learn through personal experiences that innocence cannot, in fact, be preserved forever, and they both face the reality of corruption.

Holden’s red hunting hat is one of the main symbols in the book, The Catcher in the Rye. The hat represents individuality and uniqueness. It symbolizes the confidence, self esteem, and comfort in who someone is. Holden is only willing to express himself when he is alone, with no one around. He looks for approval. Holden does not want to be seen negatively in any way. The hat is a symbol that Holden uses to tell Phoebe that she should always stay the same. Also, to tell her that she should be confident in whom she is, but, as Holden knows, Confidence and self-esteem can be easily broken. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses Holden’s red hunting hat to symbolize Holden’s uniqueness and a sense security and comfort.

In Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who has been kicked out of his school, Pencey Prep. He is now back in New York City, wandering about since he didn’t tell his parents about his expulsion. Through his journey, Holden discovers the many hardships of adulthood, one of them being the loss of innocence. J.D Salinger uses tone to develop the theme that innocence is short-lived.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old boy, transitions from childhood to adulthood. The death of Holden’s little brother signifies the beginning his loss of innocence and growth of maturity. As he enters adulthood, Holden views society differently from his peers by characterizing most of his peers and adults he meets as “phonies.” Thus, Holden takes the impossible challenge of preserving the innocence in children because he wants to prevent children from experiencing the corruption in society. The Catcher In The Rye embodies Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of children and reveals the inevitability of and the necessity of encountering the harsh realities of life.

In the chapter where Holden is giving a note asking for Phoebe to meet him at the Museum, he discovers profanity graffitied onto the side of the elementary school: “But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. 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, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them - all cockeyed, naturally - what it meant, and how they’d all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days” (Salinger 201). Clearly, Holden is very much agitated at the fact that some sick person would write ‘Fuck you’ on the wall of an elementary school. So much so that Holden says it was most likely written by perverty bum who walked onto the school grounds and wrote it just for the hell of it. Yet, there is a possibility that it was not an older individual, but a student at the school. It is evident when Holden discovers yet another ‘Fuck you’ on the wall inside the school stairwell. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something” (Salinger 202). It is more likely now that the first ‘Fuck you’ was written by a student rather than somebody else. Also, the significance of the first one being

Holden in The Catcher in the Rye loses his innocence at an early age; the author, J.D. Salinger uses symbolism to show the idea that innocence is something that will be lost and cannot be preserved.

One of the main conflict’s in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is the recurring theme of innocence. Holden attempts to resist maturing and wants to live his life as an innocent adolescent, by staying the same, like the exhibits in the Museum of Natural History. As he reflects on the corruption of innocence

Holden soon realizes that he cannot keep the all the children safe all by himself. When he encounters the curse words on the staircase wall for the second time he again immediately tries to remove it. However, this time the vulgar terms are scratched on to the wall. Holden is not able to remove it, no matter how hard he tries. This shows that no matter how hard he tries in helping the children keep their innocence, he will

Loss of innocence is one of the major elements of The Catcher in the Rye that make the novel so renowned. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is about an adolescent named Holden who wanders around New York City after being kicked out of a prestigious boarding school in eastern Pennsylvania. While learning more about himself and the adult world, he experiences alcohol, prostitution, and sexuality. Holden struggles with issues such as identity and maturity. Eventually, he realizes what it means to become an adult and accepts that maturity and development is inevitable. Holden suffers from a loss of innocence when

We live in a society where kids just want to be all grown up and young adults want to go back to the good old days where all the decisions were made for you. The loss of innocence is inevitable, eventually an event in life will unmask the world for what it really is, resulting in one growing up. Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, a 17 year-old who flunked out of Pencey Prep, is in stuck between being a teen and growing up. He fantasizes of becoming a savior of innocence, the catcher in the rye, yet he doesn’t save anyone in the novel. Innocence is a vital part of the novel, in terms of struggling against the idea of growing up. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger presents the idea that innocence can only be preserved for so long before losing sight of who you are.

Everyone grows. Growth as well as loss of innocence protrude throughout every human being, changing each. Everyday men, women, and children grow, but some days more than others. One such day was that of my great grandmother’s death. My grandma had been only nine years old when her mother died of cancer. Having no other older siblings and a working father, my grief-filled grandmother, left with no option, had to quit school and learn to cook and clean for her two-year old brother. She had undertaken the job of a parent at only nine years old. The loss of her innocence occured at that moment, where my grandma had grown more than any other point in her lifetime. This compares to the struggle Holden Caulfield, a 16 year-old boy, goes through in a coming of age story by J.D. Salinger. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger illustrates our human need to protect the innocence of others.