In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger is about a young man named Holden who doesn’t know when to grow up and finds himself in hard situations. He struggles dealing with the death of his little brother, Allie and also gets kicked out of four schools. As Holden goes on a journey to find himself, he ends up finding out more about the world. The author J.D Salinger uses innocence as a central theme for the novel. The author J.D. Salinger uses a variety of symbols like the kids playing near the cliff, fuck you graffiti, and Allie’s death to show that Holden believes knowledge kills the innocence of kids. The kids playing near the cliff symbolizes Holden’s desire to protect the kids from falling into adulthood and losing their innocence. Allie and kids symbolize the “catching”.The cliff symbolizes adulthood .Holden believes that adults are all phonies (which is hypocritical of him because even Though Holden constantly talks about other people being phony he is himself often phony. At various times in the novel, he tells pointless lies, claims to like or agree with things he hates, goes out with girls he doesn 't like, all to try to feel less lonely and left out).In chapter 17 Holden says “Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I 'm crazy. I swear to God I am”. This quote supports that Holden himself is a phony