What Is The Moral Lesson In Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a story about a boy, which takes place over the course of three long days. Throughout these three long days we examine the ups and downs of a student, named Holden who attends a boarding school. He is currently failing all of his classes except english. Holden breaks the rules in his dorm by doing things such as smoking cigarettes, staying up past the curfew, overall Holden seems like a misguided kid. Holden is a character who is confused and depressed, he does not understand where he belongs. He has good intentions but is unsure of how to express them. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden believes that he needs to hold onto things, but as his life progresses, he understands that he needs to let everything go in order …show more content…
In the final moments of the story, we see Holden spending as much time with Phoebe as possible because he is planning on departing to Colorado. He went to her school because he wants to spend his last day with her. Holden was going to be taking her to the zoo “Phoebe! I’m going to the zoo! C’mon, now!” (Salinger 270). Holden wants to spend his last few moments with her because he never wants to forget his sister. Later, when they arrive at the carrousel, he tells her that he changed his mind and he is not going to leave, “You really aren’t going away anywhere? … Yeah. I said” (Salinger 274). He changes his mind because he realizes that he can watch Phoebe succeed, but he can not drag her around with him. He needs to let her be on her own and make her own decisions. Phoebe asks “Aren 't you gonna ride, too? she asked me. Maybe I will the next time. I 'll watch ya,” (Salinger 273). Holden is finally letting go of his sister. He understands that the only way for her to become her own person is for her to be on her own at some points. He allows her to go on the carrousel, which metaphorically represents the cliff, while he stays on the bench, which metaphorically represents the …show more content…
He managed to figure the meaning of his life, and is on the right path to getting help. Before, he was convinced that he needed to be the catcher in the rye, for example, catch his sister whenever she fell down. However he learned that his role was to fall into the abyss, and not really have an effect on her life. He needed to learn to just watch. I believe that Holden valued his sister so much because he lost his brother. He wanted to be the catcher for Phoebe because he was not there to catch