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Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

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The Catcher in the Rye Essay In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger is about a young boy name Holden Caulfield who is struggling to let go of his childhood and refusing to enter the adulthood. Throughout the novel he struggles about not fitting in with the people in school because he was not privileged or felt “too rich” and getting kicked out, growing up to be the person he is, and seeing death from his brother, Allie. Holden faces adulthood and wants to protect the kids from the real world. Holden starts to admire the little things in life in order to know the meaning of this crazy world we live in. J.D Salinger expresses that loss of innocence can often change how Holden sees the world. To know someone who is so kind and …show more content…
Everytime Holden thinks about Allie, he is reminded on how the world is so unpredictable and unfair to those who truly deserved to live. Holden thinks about being a hero to those innocent childrens has still left in the world made him feel confident about himself. Initially, the title of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” is a symbol of being herotic. When Holden is talking about his little sister Phoebe, he talks about her as if he is admiring her kid features. The features are what really make Holden want to save the innocent kids from entering into the adulthood. At some point he knows the kids will have to grow up eventually, but just wants to save the innocence as long as he can. The bottom of the cliff represents adulthood which is why Holden does not want them to fall into. Lastly, Holden constantly is reminding everyone about his gray hair is a symbol in growth. Holden is trying to be treated like an adult because he notices how much respect the adult are giving. The symbol of growth is showing us that no matter how much we do not want to grow up as teenagers, we eventually do because of the ability to do a lot of things on our own is what makes us strive to grow, to be unique, and ending up losing our innocence because we want to grow up and see what the future has in store for

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