“The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” Mr.Antolini gives that advice to Holden hoping it would change the mindset about life to Holden. The quote has a purpose to portray that a mature man will understand that he can benefit a cause by being alive and living his life for the cause whereas the immature man dies for a cause and the death wont benefit the cause. People can do more by staying alive than being dead. Once a person is dead they cannot fight for anything. Holden is on the brink of becoming an adult, the people who he calls phonies, but he wants to be “The catcher in the rye” a hero for all kids; he doesn’t want them to loose their innocence. That’s his cause and he has to choose how he’ll fight for it. The term “The catcher in the rye” is first said when Holden sees an innocent child walking with his parents down the street, which he calls as innocence “He was singing that song …show more content…
“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in thins big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobodys around- nobodys big, I mean –except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff … I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them…I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” Through this vision that he has Holden exhibits that he wants to be a guardian for kids and watch over them so that they don’t fall in other words so they don’t loose their innocence. When he says “nobodys around- nobodys big.” He meant that no one who is an adult like him is around them to protect the kids and watch over them like a