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Catcher In The Rye Innocence Theme

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The story reflects the critical view of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a view of the world where everyone should be altruistic, and values purity and naivety over money, sex, and power. Even though, he lives in a world where it’s simply not achievable. Leaving Holden damaged because his own loss of innocence gives him a desire to protect others who have yet to have the realization of how corrupt the world is. In the Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger used the symbols such as “the catcher in the rye,” the “Shirley Beans” record, graffiti on the wall, and the characterization of Holden Caulfield as misguided protector, to develop the theme that one cannot stop someone from losing their innocence. Holden’s immature understanding of life and the need to protect children from losing their innocence leads him to desire being …show more content…

When Holden goes to Phoebe’s school to visit her, he sees something in the stairwell, “Somebody'd written ‘fuck you’ on the wall... I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it...I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it” (221). Infuriated by this because ‘fuck you’, which as an expression, is full of anger, Holden is reminded of how hateful the world can be. Everyone grows up; it’s inevitable. There is no way to stop someone from experiencing life and at some point, they will lose their innocence. J.D. Salinger’s story in The Catcher in the Rye is widely read and studied because it demonstrates a character that invokes relatable feelings of regret of maturing or feelings that the world isn’t as wonderful as you’re led to believe as a kid. You relate to wanting to protect yourself from these things or, as someone who has matured to wanting to protect those you are guardian

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471 Words | 2 Pages

(Salinger, 173). His obsession with being the catcher in the rye shows that he didn't want children to get caught up in the corrupt and complex world of adulthood, so he desired them to stay kids and preserve their innocence. Thus, proving Holden is naïve to the idea of losing his childhood innocence, since he’s being “forced” into

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

Innocence is defined as a "lack of corruption". This definition is what the character Holden in The Catcher in the Rye believes is the way all children should be and live. In the novel, the loss of innocence is a major concern. Holden, who wants to be "the catcher in the rye", serves as a metaphor for entering adult life. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger conveys that innocence must be protected at all costs through relationships, unrealistic expectations, and the fear of change.

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656 Words | 3 Pages

Holden says that all he want to do is be the catcher in the rye protecting children from falling. The whole novel Holden makes observation around him that are taking away from children's innocence. This is what upsets him the most the fact that everyone will eventually have to grow up. While he is trying to go get Phoebe he is reminded this in the following quote. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another "Fuck you" on the wall.

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598 Words | 3 Pages

As Steinle states, “Holden himself acts as a censor, attempting to erase the “fuck you” he finds written on his sister's school building,” this demonstrates that Holden wants to keep the mind of his younger sister and other children’s minds ignorant to societies vulgar language which

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610 Words | 3 Pages

Holden has a negative outlook on the world, he constantly is depressed because of his surroundings and the actions of people. He thinks that the world is full of phony people and he persistently says the word “phony” by describing most adults and teenagers. Holden thinks that in order to become an adult one must lose their authenticity and become phony. Contracting Holden's ideas, Phoebe, has a positive view on the world. The way that Phoebe understands the world is pure because she is a innocence child.

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1505 Words | 7 Pages

Someone is always crossing the line between childhood to adulthood, and innocence to experience. The trick is though, one has to be on one side of the line. It is not possible to walk on the line, it’s an all or nothing kind of thing. However, Holden tries to be the guardian angel of innocence and preserve the things that remind him of his childhood because of Allie stuck in the state of innocence—dead and preventing Phoebe from entering the realm of adulthood—maturity. Holden finds ways to be the guardian angel of innocence, even if it means he would lose his own innocence.

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1506 Words | 7 Pages

The Evolution of Tanks in World War One The allies saw the futility of the stalemate on the western front and had been coming to the realization that simply advancing soldiers into no-man’s land by foot was a surefire way to lose a great number of casualties to the German’s machine guns and artillery fire. A new way to break the stalemate was needed, thus the tank was invented. Initially, tanks were seen as an invention with the potential to help aid infantry by clearing a path into no-man’s land. At first, tanks were slow and unable to function desirably.

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1051 Words | 5 Pages

He believes that girls are fascinating, yet, objectifies them. To illustrate, when Holden meets a prostitute, he “kept hoping she’d be good-looking” (TRC, 101), still, “sort of just wanted to get it over with” (TRC, 101,102). However, Holden relates well with children, and it may be because they are innocent, and does not sexualize them. Holden sees a boy who sings “If a body catch a body coming through the rye” (TRC, X) and that makes Holden “feel better” and “not so depressed anymore” (TRC, 125). The song (mistaken) gives him direction.

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543 Words | 3 Pages

This leads Salinger into believing “most adolescents eventually come to terms with things as they actually are. They. They give up their idealistic ideas of working any radical changes in social structure or in the cultures value statement”(A study on the painful transition of adolescense in J.D. Salinger’s writing). This displays that Salinger believes that people preserve innocence to connect with their past imagination

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

Catcher in the Rye Essay Children are only innocent because of their unbiased and positive outlook on the world. But soon enough, their exposure to reality will dismantle the innocence that they have. There will be a point in their life where their positive attitudes, dreams of doing everything, and wild attitude disappear and are lost forever. As children grow up, they are pushed into a world where stress, anxiety and decisions are prominent and therefore destroy the remnants of their childhood innocence. Taking place in the east coast of the United States, Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye, runs away from his problems and finds himself in New York.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

The death of his brother leads Holden to believe he should be strong and mature. When, in all honesty, he is too young to fully comprehend these emotions. This occurs in a number of ways like when he tries to order alcohol at age sixteen, his thoughts that he needs to be ready for sexual relationships (when he is not), and his idea that he knows more than most adults. As the novel continues,

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1338 Words | 6 Pages

In literature, loss of innocence refers to an adolescent character who experiences an event that leads to a greater awareness of pain and suffering which profoundly reshapes their life. The loss of a loved one at a young age can cause disruption and irreparable damage to the innocent mind. After a tragedy of losing a loved one, the naïve mind is ill-equipped to deal with the loss, which can cause it to spiral out of control. Esther and Holden are two fictional characters who are both unfortunate enough to experience this trauma during their adolescence and both suffer the negative mental consequences. Throughout The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye, Plath and Salinger use their protagonists’ to demonstrate the motif of loss of innocence, caused by tragic events in their youth, to teach the reader that buried childhood trauma can have a negative impact on mental health.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, there are three specific examples that support the idea that maturation and the loss of innocence are inevitable. They include: Allie’s baseball mitt, the ducks in the Central Park pond, and Holden’s red hunting cap. Allie’s baseball mitt is a symbol of a child’s innocence, and then how it is lost. This is evident through the very basis of why Holden had started talking about Allie to the reader: Allie’s mitt.

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837 Words | 4 Pages

Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

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1230 Words | 5 Pages

Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.

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