...The Catcher in the Rye, is a novel, about a young boy named Holden Caufield. Holden is a very splenetic and choleric character, who lost his brother at a young age. Which led Holden to really focus on gaining back his innocence. Although he was also very interested in protecting the children and saving their innocence. It seems as if Holden doesn't want these young innocent kids to go through what he has in his life at a young age. He doesn't want them to lose their innocence like he did. The main focus of Holden throughout the novel, is innocence and how he can get it back and save other children. Holden lost his innocence at a young age. Holden had a brother named Allie and he really looked up to Allie. Holden had a hard time when Allie...
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...Caulfield's “Catcher in the Rye” Fantasy Growing up, we have all experienced a particular desire to achieve something; an ambitious state of mind that gives us meaning to life. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, has a primary ambition - to become the Catcher in the Rye – the protector of the young and innocent, as stated in his conversation with Phoebe (Salinger, 191). Completely imaginary and a hopeless fantasy, this passage underscores what is prevalent throughout the novel - the issue of Holden's black and white perspective on the dark, phony world of adulthood juxtaposed with the light, innocent, world of childhood. The important passage contributes to Holden's clinical depression as a result of his beloved brother's death, therefore his cynical view of adulthood, and his anxiety about growing up, resulting in the overall angst and alienation palpable throughout the novel, leading to his eventual catharsis. Holden's imagery of “catching” children playing in a field of rye before they fall off a cliff is unrealistic, misheard from a little boy, and it serves merely as an escape route from what he fears most about adulthood – the change and overwhelming complexity. Holden wants everything to be easily understandable and eternally fixed, similar to the Eskimos and Indians in the museum. Opposed to acknowledging that adulthood scares and mystifies him, Holden instead invents a fantasy – that childhood is an idyllic field of rye, while adulthood...
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...Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost or threatened...
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...from adolescence to adulthood. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger communicates the conflicting emotions present during Holden Caulfield's journey into adulthood, reflected by his cynical attitude towards the adult world and his idealistic perspective of the innocence of youth. One of the prevalent themes of Holden's journey to adulthood is his cynical attitude toward the adult world. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden says, "You ought to go to a boy's school sometime. Try it sometime. It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddamn Cadillac someday, and you have to keep...
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...Format: MLA Essay Thesis: Holden’s negative view of sex and sexuality stems from many things, he presents sex as something ‘crumby’ even though as he mentions he would not mind doing it if he opportunity came up but when the time comes he does not go through with it, sabotaging himself and in a way preserving his innocence. Salinger also ties in the theme of innocence, Holden subconsciously tries to preserve his innocence and it’s evident in the way he views things, he sees the prostitute as a person, not as an object, and thinks of Jane as friend rather than a sexual being. It seems as though he prefers non-intimate relationships and resorts to just talking things out like with the prostitute and with Jane he does not make any advances towards her, he prefers to hold hands and talk. It is also evident that Holden was sexuality abused, and when his former teacher Mr. Antolini makes advances towards him, it adds to his negative idea of sexuality. Through Holden Caulfield, Salinger presents sex and sexuality as something that is shameful and private. ENG 2D1h May 21st, 2014 Assessment of Salinger’s Concept of Sexuality in The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the protagonist Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye represents the Western teen in the 1950’s, and through Caulfield’s ‘misadventures’ the themes of sex and sexuality come into play. Holden’s negative view of sex and sexuality stems from many things, he presents sex as something ‘crumby’ even though as he mentions...
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...Catcher in the Rye Essay Innocence Themes in literary works are recurring, unifying subjects or ideas, motifs that allow us to understand more deeply the characters and their world. In The Catcher in the Rye, the major themes reflect the values and motivations of the characters. Some of these themes are outlined in the following sections. As its title indicates, the dominating theme of The Catcher in the Rye is the protection of innocence, especially of children. For most of the book, Holden sees this as a primary virtue. It is very closely related to his struggle against growing up. Holden's enemy is the adult world and the cruelty and artificiality that it entails. The people he admires all represent or protect innocence. He thinks of Jane Gallagher, for example, not as a maturing young woman but as the girl with whom he used to play checkers. He goes out of his way to tell us that he and Jane had no sexual relationship. Quite sweetly, they usually just held hands. Holden comforted Jane when she was distressed, and it bothers him that Jane may have been subjected to sexual advances from her drunken stepfather or from her date, Holden's roommate, Stradlater. Holden's secret goal is to be "the catcher in the rye." In this metaphor, he envisions a field of rye standing by a dangerous cliff. Children play in the field with joy and abandon. If they should come too close to the edge of the cliff, however, Holden is there to catch them. His attitude seems to shift near the end...
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...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...
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...Asian Social Science May, 2009 An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye Lingdi Chen Dept. of Foreign Languages, Dezhou University Daxue xi Road, Dezhou 253023, China E-mail: chld1973@126.com Abstract The Catcher in the Rye was written by famous American writer J.D.Salinger. This paper mainly analyzes the adolescent problems Holden Caulfield confronts on the journey from childhood to adulthood. These adolescent problems include Holden’s protection of innocence, his disgust for the phoniness of the adult world, and his alienation from society. This paper concludes that these adolescent problems produce great impact on him. Holden behaves almost erratically and impulsively and has negative attitudes towards almost everything and everyone he meets. Keywords: Adolescent problems, Innocence, Phoniness, Alienation 1. Introduction The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s masterpiece, tells the painful story of a high-school boy growing up in the world of decadent New York. Young Holden Caulfield is expelled from school because of his poor academic performance. He is afraid to meet his parents earlier than they should expect him, so he decides to stay in a New York City hotel. There he meets pimps, prostitutes and “queers.” Soon he becomes aware that the world of adults is a “phony” one. After his meeting with a friend, Holden sneaks back home to see his kid sister Phoebe. She is a loving kid, but her talk about their father “killing” him sickens...
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...‘THE CATCHER IN THE RYE’ AND ‘IGBY GOES DOWN’ – NON-CONFORMITY Both J.D Salinger’s 1951 Bildungsroman novel The Catcher in the Rye and Burr Steer’s film Igby Goes Down, demonstrate that regardless of context, the youth will choose not to conform to socially held values. We can see that this is the manifestation of the vulnerability and hesitation experienced as adolescents like us grow up. Ultimately both these texts explore the search for identity and individualism as a cause for non-conformity. The Catcher in the Rye was written during a post war era and a time of drastic social change. However, many of its conservative values remained and most importantly, the notion of youth conformity was held in high regard. On the other hand, Igby Goes Down is set in the 1980s -1990’s American era, a time of expanding multi national corporations, materialism and commercialism. Salinger and Steers utilise the characterisation of their young, sardonic and rebellious protagonists, Holden and Igby to epitomise non-conformity. The composers allude to the recurring theme of isolation and alienation in both texts. As a result of their non-conformity, the protagonists experience rejection and depression as they search for their selfhood. Similarly, the national ethos of the American Dream is explored as a mere fallacy, and both composers portray this through their protagonist’s wealthy backgrounds and opulent upbringings and yet money doesn’t bring them happiness. Salinger, through literary...
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...Defined by Merriam-Webster, symbolism is the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature, art, etc. By using this literary device, authors can convey complex conditions with great depth and powerful imagery. Symbols play vital roles in a great deal of brilliant novels because they can help to explain one’s inner feelings and the reasons why they do certain things. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the red hunting hat serves as the most important symbol in the novel, which portrays Holden’s constant feelings of alienation, innocence, and protection. By wearing the red hunting hat, the protagonist alienates himself from society and his fear of the phony adult world. When he first purchased the...
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...Holden's obsession with innocence: In J.D.Salinger's the catcher in the rye Thinking childish in its simplicity can lead anyone to the path of innocence. The protection of innocence is something that holden searches for in J.D. Salinger's novel the catcher in the rye which shows that he believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and should be protected from the adult world. Holden is wanting to protect the innocence of those people who he thinks are really innocent. In addition, holden himself is innocent. As, he does many things that show that he is still not mature enough and should protect himself. Finally, he is willing to save his younger sister phoebe’s innocence from the world of phonies. Holden’s desire to save...
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...In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger portrays a lost and confused teenager named Holden Caulfield; who is trying to find his place in life after getting kicked out of school. After going to New York to escape his annoying peers; he meets a series of people in the city that helps him find his goal in life. His dream was to be the Catcher in the Rye and preserve childhood innocence, but this dream was later destroyed with the realization that children must lose their innocence in order to grow up. Throughout the book Salinger uses an array of items that symbolize Holden’s position and thoughts on the world. One of the significant objects mentioned by Salinger is money. In J.D Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye money is significant because it symbolizes the unfairness in society. In the novel money is constantly spent and earned with both a greedy and sympathetic mindset. To begin with, money is often earned and given to people with the worst morality. One of Pencey’s alumni Ossenburger is an extremely rich and powerful man, yet according to Holden Ossenburger is wealthy because of bad morale and trickery. “…you could get members of your family members for about five bucks apiece…” “He probably just shoves them in sacks and dumps them in the river anyway.” (22) This is an example of the negative examples of society. The family of the deceased are trusting Ossemburger with a beloved member of their family. Yet, Ossenburger betrays their trust by dumping the dead into...
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...Women in the Catcher There are a number of women in Holden’s life in “The Catcher in the Rye”. Women often appear in the book to illustrate Holden’s youth, such as the prostate Sunny. However, two women of greatest influences on Holden and his actions actually make no appearance in the book. His mother and his ex-girlfriend Jane Gallagher reoccur in Holden’s thoughts and can be seen to contribute to his present state of mind. Jane Gallagher is an important woman in Holden’s life. Much of “The Catcher in the Rye” is written using flash backs. Holden remembers back to episodes when he perceived he was happy. Jane Gallagher is a big part of these memories, as she existed in his life before his brother died. As a character she seems to represent Salinger’s central theme of innocence in this novel. Holden idolises Jane and does not want the image of her shattered. This is clear at the beginning of the book when he attacks Stradlater because he has been on date with Jane. Clearly Holden cannot bear the idea of Jane becoming part of the adult world that he despises. Holden’s mother, in contrast, very much reinforces the pain of his brother’s death in his mind. There is a suggestion in Holden’s account of his younger brother’s death that his parents lied to him to spare him from the pain of knowing his brother was about to die. This resulted in Holden’s violent response in their garage and his dislike of “phonies” that appears throughout the book. She is viewed...
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...THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. SALINGER I. Content of the Book Holden Caulfield is a very weird and interesting young man who likes to do things on impulse or because as he said 'he got such a bang out of it'. He has a brother, D.B. who is a writer in Hollywood, a little sister named Phoebe and another brother Allie, who has already died before the story even began. In the beginning of the story Holden narrates that he'll be leaving his school, Pencey Prep (a school full of Phonies from Holden’s point of view), because he flunked out in the four out of five subjects he was taking, the only subject he didn't fail was English. Holden tells the readers that he had come back to Agerstown, Pennsylvania though he was traveling with his team for a fencing contest, he lost all of the foils in a New York Subway, and so the match was cancelled instead. Holden even mentioned that on the way home his mates treated him to silence and he found this very amusing. Though there was a football game going on, Holden didn't go down and watch it, instead he went to visit his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is a very old man who wants to help Caulfield in his studies (since Holden has also been expelled in a few other schools as well) and at some point Mr. Spencer even read out Holden's examination paper and the little note that Holden had written in the end saying that if Mr. Spencer would like to flunk him then he'd be all right with it, Holden explained to the readers that the...
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...Catcher in the Rye: the Naivety of Childhood Summary: Discusses J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." Describes main character Holden Caulfield's fixation on childhood. Details how he struggles through teenage life because he cannot accept the responsibilities that come with growing up. In the novel, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D Salinger, the main character, Holden, is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is naively fixated on childhood. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles through teenage life because he cannot accept the given responsibilities that come with growing up. Holden is obsessed with childhood because he chooses to be wedged between a world of the innocence of children and the complex world of adulthood. Holden deities his two younger siblings as if they're candidates for sainthood because of his fixation. Holden is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is afraid of gaining the responsibilities that come with it. So, Holden struggles hard to stay childish. For example, throughout the book, he does not want to take responsibility to communicate with others that may want to help him. He refuses to go home and confront his parents and face the consequences. Along with this, he also pulls the childish silent treatment toward his parents; because that's the only knife he has to hurt them: ."..she wouldn't've been the ones that answered the phone. My parents would be the ones. So that was out." (pg. 59) He is afraid to talk to people close to him because...
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