Catcher in the Rye Essay
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger tells the journey of narrator Holden Caulfield, who searches for some semblance of belonging in the world he cannot grasp. Through several obstacles and experiences Holden pulls farther away from the “phony” world and descends further into madness. Holden’s journey to his “terrible fall” is seen as inappropriate seeing as Salinger’s work has made it on the banned books list but it is a transformative story with a blatant underlining message that both encourages and invigorates. It challenges the reader to go back to a time in their life where innocence was palpable and before the real world and all its challenges. Holden desperately wishes to stay surrounded by innocence …show more content…
Salinger emphasizes the importance and protection of innocence, seen through Holden’s staunch protection of Jane Gallagher and his dream to be the catcher in the rye. When Jane Gallagher is mentioned Holden feels the need to protect her innocence by constantly mentioning how she was as a child. When she was first mentioned, Holden is told by Stradlater that he is going out on a date with her. Holden responds by proceeding to tell Stradlater about how she plays checkers and asks his roommate if he would pass along a message, “ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row” (Salinger 39). Holden wishes to know if Jane is still like how she was as a child, is she still has that innocence that he remembers her having when they were children. Even after he asks that of Stradlater, Holden says that …show more content…
Holden fears the world and everything it stands for. He pictures himself as a catcher in the rye because it is safe for him, there is not an adult world he has to come to terms with only him and the other children. He is standing at the edge of a cliff preventing children from falling off the proverbial edge and into adulthood, where adulthood signifies the losing of innocence and Holden is the protector. His need to be the protector of innocence or the catcher in the rye stems from his inability to assimilate into the adult world. On several instances he attempts to but he could never quite manage it because he simply does not know how to. Yet it always comes back to Holden’s wish of the catcher in the rye. He knows he would have a place in that world and he would not feel othered by the fact that he does not have a place in the world. He would protect the children from the phony world and the difficulties of adulthood then their innocence would remain. The protection of innocence is what Holden strives to achieve from him becoming the catcher in the rye and that need to do so is the result of his inability to leave his innocence behind and integrate into a world he perceives as
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger tells the journey of narrator Holden Caulfield, who searches for some semblance of belonging in the world he cannot grasp. Through several obstacles and experiences Holden pulls farther away from the “phony” world and descends further into madness. Holden’s journey to his “terrible fall” is seen as inappropriate seeing as Salinger’s work has made it on the banned books list but it is a transformative story with a blatant underlining message that both encourages and invigorates. It challenges the reader to go back to a time in their life where innocence was palpable and before the real world and all its challenges. Holden desperately wishes to stay surrounded by innocence …show more content…
Salinger emphasizes the importance and protection of innocence, seen through Holden’s staunch protection of Jane Gallagher and his dream to be the catcher in the rye. When Jane Gallagher is mentioned Holden feels the need to protect her innocence by constantly mentioning how she was as a child. When she was first mentioned, Holden is told by Stradlater that he is going out on a date with her. Holden responds by proceeding to tell Stradlater about how she plays checkers and asks his roommate if he would pass along a message, “ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row” (Salinger 39). Holden wishes to know if Jane is still like how she was as a child, is she still has that innocence that he remembers her having when they were children. Even after he asks that of Stradlater, Holden says that …show more content…
Holden fears the world and everything it stands for. He pictures himself as a catcher in the rye because it is safe for him, there is not an adult world he has to come to terms with only him and the other children. He is standing at the edge of a cliff preventing children from falling off the proverbial edge and into adulthood, where adulthood signifies the losing of innocence and Holden is the protector. His need to be the protector of innocence or the catcher in the rye stems from his inability to assimilate into the adult world. On several instances he attempts to but he could never quite manage it because he simply does not know how to. Yet it always comes back to Holden’s wish of the catcher in the rye. He knows he would have a place in that world and he would not feel othered by the fact that he does not have a place in the world. He would protect the children from the phony world and the difficulties of adulthood then their innocence would remain. The protection of innocence is what Holden strives to achieve from him becoming the catcher in the rye and that need to do so is the result of his inability to leave his innocence behind and integrate into a world he perceives as