Catcher In The Rye
Catcher in the Rye: FLE
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield expresses his love of innocence as he sees it in others, in numerous ways. He demonstrates this through the way he talks about others and the way he acts around them. We learn that Holden lost his own innocence at an early age after his “perverty” (193) encounter with Mr. Antolini. Because of this, he cherishes, and wants to protect innocence in others. This is really a reflection of his desire to be innocent himself.
Allie is a paragon of innocence to Holden.
I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can’t I? Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake–especially if they were a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all (171).
Innocence is lost in adulthood. Since Allie never becomes an adult, he is for Holden the epitome of innocence, consequently, Holden’s love for him is very deep. Holden’s memories of Allie will always be of an innocent Allie. Holden says that he will not stop liking Allie just because he is dead. The other people he talks about are the adults that Holden sees around him. He does not like any of them because they are phony, and have lost their innocence.
Mr. Spencer is one person in the book who definitely has lost his innocence, but Holden does not dislike him. Although Holden says he likes Mr. Spencer, he does imply that Mr. Spencer is a phony. There are other things about Mr. Spencer that Holden criticizes. “Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it” (9). Holden makes many other disparaging remarks about Mr. Spencer and the things he said during their conversation which appears early in the book. Holden seems to have two minds about Mr. Spencer: at times Holden seems to like Mr. Spencer: “‘Fine,’ I said, ‘How’s Mr....
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