Literary Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye

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As humans we constantly find ourselves facing the fact that we are growing older and accepting the responsibilities that come with age. Sometimes we see teenagers, young kids and even some adults fall into a place where they are emotionally stuck in the past. In the catcher in the rye, Holden Caulfield is a character that portrays an irrational fear of growing up through displays of angst such as; Childlike behaviour, rebellion and sheltering/protecting others (young children). His fear and dread are normal reactions to adulthood and the phoniness he has come to understand it entails. In the novel the Holden tries to act mature but in his attempts he reveals the dept of his immaturity. Specially his societal ideals for life do not align …show more content…
Someone who directly is affected by this is phoebe; he talks highly of her and how smart she is. To support the idea that Holden wants to save the children comes from the poem by Robert Burns. Holden thinks the lines go, “’If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye’”(224). Yet it is Phoebe who tells him the lines are actually, “’ If a body meet a body coming through the rye’” (224). Holden wants to be the person that catches the bodies coming through the rye. Essentially being the one to save the kids from falling off the earth. But the truth is he can’t be because no one can save the kids. He can’t even save Phoebe from the mature content in the poem because she already knows it. Holden talks about bringing phoebe to the places he visited as a child; the museum, the park and the pond because they are places that he associates as “not changing.” The museum specifically represents the pause in time because the collections had remained the same as Holden remembered. Symbolically the museum is a place of knowledge and he talked fondly about Phoebe and her greater understanding of the world and how smart she is. He connects with her in that sense and he wants to show her that she can stay the same. Holden also relates the ducks in the pond to his childhood and every time he goes by the pond he blabs about the ducks and he is quite

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