How Does Holden Preserve The Innocence Of The Catcher In The Rye

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Mesmerized by the internal need to preserve the innocence in the world around him, Holden ventures off on a life-changing journey to grasp the unattainable, the need to prevent children from maturing. With the unfortunate past events in his life guiding the way, Holden embarks on a mission to prove to the world that he can make his inflated dream a reality by protecting the youth from the impurities of adulthood. Being the catcher in the rye is more than just a job that Holden wants; it is the occupation he needs in his life to play his part. The heroic deeds Holden implicates into his voyage throughout the novel proves his valor, but he is stricken by an incognizant mentality, steering him away from his objective, and down the treacherous …show more content…
Salinger includes this critically important element into his story to illustrate why Holden goes on his perilous journey in the first place, and to demonstrate through Holden the importance of the youth maintaining their innocence. Allie Caulfield holds a special place in Holden’s heart, because he is Holden’s dead younger brother, and he feels obligated to protect the innocence of others to pay respect to his brother. In the novel, Holden starts to speak out loud to his brother recollecting about the past events in his life that he recalls. Holden says, “Allie heard us talking about it, and he wanted to go, and I wouldn’t let him. I told him he was a child. So once in a while, now, when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, ‘…Go home and get your bike and meet me in the front of Bobby’s house’” (Salinger 99). In an attempt to make himself feel slightly better, Holden enjoys to talk to Allie outloud and relive this critical moment in his when he is feeling down. When Holden becomes “very depressed” he thinks about the time he tells his brother that he “[is] a child” and did not let him come with him. He relives this moment in his current life and tells Allie to “go home and get [his] bike.” From the perspective of many other authors, they too feel like Holden goes on the preposterous quest to save the innocence of the …show more content…
To detail how Holden’s mindset works, J.D. Salinger incorporates Holden’s dream job into the story to help the reader further understand why Holden ventures this far to become the preserver of the possession he holds the closest, the innocence of the youth. Holden returns to his home earlier than he plans because he is has been removed from Pencey Prep, and he goes to see Phoebe in his older brother’s room. He tells Phoebe, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all…What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… I 'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it 's crazy, but that 's the only thing I 'd really like to be” (Salinger 173). Holden realizes what his goal in life is, and he explains to his little sister that he wants to be the person to look out for all the kids who are too naïve to look out for themselves and Holden wants to secure their innocence. Holden dreams of being the “catcher in the rye” and defend the “little kids playing some game” from falling off the cliff into the mature life, because Holden’s job is to “catch everybody” if they begin to stumble “over the cliff.” In comparison to the book, many other sources that cover the analysis on the Catcher in the Rye agree with the

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