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Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence Essay

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“some guys spend days looking for something they lost.” In the Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden is faced with the loss of innocence. The novel is about the journey of this teenage boy in New York who is searching for some kind of reassurance or way to regain his innocence. This loss is represented mainly in his journey, his relationships and his development through the novel. Firstly, Holden was on a journey. Holden was unstable due to his loss and was in need for reassurance, a purpose to live for and a place where he belonged. He seeks reassurance from, the taxi drivers. “Well you know the ducks that swim around it? ... Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?” In this metaphor he is not only talking about the ducks but himself. He is frightened by the idea of losing his innocence in exchange for adulthood and wonders what will happen to him. Throughout the novel he uses motifs to describe his fear and anger of this change. The motifs he uses are the museum, the cliff and the ducks. Holden is terrified of change. In the book he tries to become a catcher in the rye who protects innocent people from the corrupt adult world. Near the end he realizes he can’t protect them, which results with him …show more content…

Through the book Holden changes from a coward to man, immature to mature and black and white view to a grey view. In the beginning his view is clear-cut. He generalized everyone, making a judgment on society as a whole. Near the end he understood the world cannot be the romanticized version he dreams of. The advice Mr. Antolini gave was “the mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” In the beginning of the book he sees James castle as dying for a noble cause while in the end of the book he doesn’t run away like a coward he stays for phoebe and realizes that he can live humbly for

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As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.

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All in all Holden and the ducks are both isolating themselves from society. While the ducks get satisfaction from warmer weather, Holden gets his from the hat. Also the Frozen pond means that nothing is changing and makes Holden realize while he is changing, the pond is not and it is the same, just like the

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The ducks are usually being mentioned when they talk about frozen images, for example when Holden was “wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over?”(16, Salinger) as he was driving in a taxi and asking a stranger such a question. Holden's mind was so concentrated into finding out where the ducks go, and where he should go, that he ended up asking a random taxi driver where do the ducks end up going when it gets all frozen over? He is so desperate knowing that he asks that again later in the book, “Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks when it gets all frozen over?” (67, Salinger) Again Holden feels the need to ask a taxi driver where do ducks go, since he hasn't gotten a proper answer from the previous one.

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Holden’s main problem is he doesn’t have courage ( “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move.” ) Holden thinks that if he moves forward he is going to change and become impure. We as people all want to move forward but sometimes the people you are associated with are not helping you either. You can tell once he says “You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two

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The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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He has a big hero complex and wishes that everyone else did as well, he even goes to the extent of becoming upset when no one knew what happened to the ducks in the winter. Innocence is a huge theme in this book. Holden wants to protect it as much as he can and that makes sense. When we are young we see things in a different perception, we think that life is great and its full of wonderful things and people. It hits us hard when we grow up and realize that the world is actually full of people who don't care about us.

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If the book is read solely on its surface level, it just seems like a book about an annoying teenager who just complains about everything, but the messages it carries are actually profound. For example, near the end of the story Holden is upset by some profane graffiti on the wall at a museum that says “F*** you” (Salinger 224). He is upset by it because he is worried some little kids will see it and wonder what it means, and then be curious enough to find out adn have their innocence stolen. He finds the graffiti multiple times in the museum. The profane graffiti, if looked at beyond the surface level, symbolises the fact that Holden can not do anything to stop little kids from losing their innocence.

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The lagoon itself is symbolic of Holden’s longing for an eternal childhood, the frozen state representing a lack of change. The ducks represent the rest of society which Holden fails to assimilate with. Another symbol of this is the Museum of Natural History which Holden enjoys visiting, for similar reasons as the lake. He enjoyed going to the museum because “Nobody’d move.” and “nobody’d be different”. Holden visits this museum twice throughout the novel.

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I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over"( ). This is symbolism for Holden, the ducks representing his desperate attempt to cling to childhood. He, just like Craig struggles with this depression that he can't let go. This idea of fear can be related to

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The beginning of Holden’s journey starts with the innocence and naivety of childhood. Childhood is the stage that ignorance is bliss with no care in the world. Holden goes to a prestigious boarding school for boys and he believes that everyone in that school is a phony in some way. Holden is an observant character as he stays in the background, but he can also cause the most trouble. Like a child, he asks many questions and he is very curious to the point that he can be annoying.

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In the Catcher in the Rye, Salinger depicts the immature mentality of typical teenagers through Holden’s childish curiosity. Teens experience

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These quotes show a contradiction between what Holden outwardly claims and what he genuinely believes. In the first quote, Holden openly admits that he is "illiterate," suggesting that he lacks literary knowledge and thinks he is not smart. 2. During his conversation with Mr. Spencer, Holden gets distracted thinking about ducks in Central Park in New York City. What are some things he wonders about them?

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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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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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Holden’s Struggle To Find Himself: Throughout the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles to find himself and who he truly is in order to be happy. His struggles relate to many things that he does or say in particular. Holden lacks with a social status with women and his family, whether it’s a relationship or being antisocial. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield experiences the complexities and struggles involved with both physical and emotional relationships.

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