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Essay on the themes of the catcher in the rye
Essay on the themes of the catcher in the rye
The Catcher in the Rye Symbols, Motifs and Themes
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What would happen to the world if kids of any age were able to watch any movie, listen to any song, and create any art they wanted? Well for starters, that would never happen, but that would be complete freedom, right? Artists, just like regular people, have their own individual opinions, but unlike regular people, some artist face censorship when expressing their ideas. In Artistic Freedom, Holden, the main character of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, originally feels that art should be censored because it could be considered harmful to children’s mindsets.
Abby Steadman Ms. Crane Accelerated English 10 05 April 2023 The Loss of Innocence in Life In the show All American, Spencer James’s father left the family when he was young, leaving his mother to support a toddler and little kid. Spencer was forced to mature quickly to help support his family. He saw the cruel world at a young age, which caused him to lose his innocence and become more naive.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout matures throughout the book as she matures her innocent nature is gradually lost and she realizes how senseless and brutal people can be. In the beginning she has still not seen any of the bad things people do in the world. Her innocence at is first shown when Dill asks Scout to marry him because they don’t now what marriage really is they both go along with it and say that they are married from then on. Another example of Scout’s innocence is when after she goes to school and gets in trouble she comes home and tells Atticus that she does not want to go to school anymore. She says that Burris Ewell only comes one day then goes home lie it would be a good thing to be a Ewell because you would not
but the book has also sparked wild discussions about its content and if it should be taught in schools across the country. Although The Catcher In The Rye presents strong sexual themes and vulgar language, these aspects showcase the characters ' deepest emotions while staying true to the human experience and the power of language. The very same issues that cause the catcher in the rye to climb the banned book list, sexual themes and vulgar language, are exactly the things that make this piece worth teaching in high school curriculums, as they show readers the truest
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows how Jem, Scout and Boo overcome their loss of innocence and overcome the struggles that Maycomb county and its people throw at them. While Jem, Scout, are just rudimentary kids they face some real world problems and they witness some of the harsh ways people did things but witnessing those things and hearing all the judgemental people is also a detriment to their innocence.
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes.
Innocence is a possession that is best not taken for granted. Once lost, it can never be returned. Many wish to preserve innocence in the people around them, but may fail to realize that the loss of innocence is only a part of growing up. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield tries to preserve the innocence around him. However, he is not able to get away from the "phoniness" nor is he able to keep everyone innocent.
Innocence is a time in one’s life of carefreeness and peace. In youth, children have yet to experience the harsh realities of life, and when they do, it is often hard to cope with. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays Maycomb’s prejudiced ways through an unfair trial of an innocent man, and through the treatment of certain members of the community. The young narrator, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, experience growth and learn compassion when the trial exacerbates Maycomb’s intense intolerance. In this novel, Lee uses the characterization of the Finch children to demonstrate that innocent children who have been exposed to their community’s prejudice, often have trouble adjusting, but need a mentor figure to help them mature.
Many people harbour a desire to accomplish something specific in life. Sometimes this desire stems from the background of a person, and sometimes desires are developed over time and with age. “The Catcher in the Rye” narrated by Holden Caulfield, who is an overly disturbed teenager, is about the change from childhood to adulthood. Holden, like many, has a burning desire to protect the innocence of children; this desire is tied to the themes of relationships, intimacy and sexuality which are carried throughout the novel. In a stroke of genius, the author, J.D. Salinger, sums up this desire in the title, which is taken from a poem by Robert Burns: Comin ' thro ' the Rye ( 1796).
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses the main character Holden Caulfield to portray the loss of innocence. Holden is a teenage boy who struggles with adulthood and the innocence of being a child. Through Holden's experiences, Salinger shows that the loss of innocence can be painful and difficult, but it is also necessary for personal growth and maturity. Holden's journey towards loss of innocence is shown by several events, such as his expulsion from Pencey Prep School and his roams in New York City. Holden's expulsion from Pencey is a turning point in the novel, as it marks the beginning of his realization that he can no longer hold on to the innocence of childhood.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Mr. Antolini gives Holden Caulfield advice when he is at one of his lowest points. Already aware of Holden’s mental state and position on school, he quotes Wilhelm Stekel, a psychoanalyst, “The mark of the 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.” (Salinger 188). Although Holden fails to grasp Mr. Antolini’s message, the quote applies directly to his life because of his relationship with death as a result of his younger brother, Allie’s, death. Mr. Antolini uses this quote specifically because he wants Holden take a step back and try to live for a noble cause instead of resorting to death.
Alienation as Self-Protection in The Catcher in the Rye Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, there are many themes, motifs and symbols that emerge and develop along with Holden, the protagonist, and the plot. Though the most significant theme is alienation as means for self-protection. In many instances, Holden isolates and alienates himself from his peers and the world in order to protect his morals and his self-imposed superiority. The first evidence of this alienation occurs when Holden speaks to his history teacher, Mr. Spencer. While talking about Mr. Thurmer’s lecture, Holden begins to ponder the “right side”, stating “if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s the game about?”
A discovery is rarely the endpoint, rather it catalyses an inevitable chain reaction of subsequent discoveries. It is through this domino effect of discovering, that allows us to gain new perceptions of the world, new values and understanding of ourselves and others. The importance of morality, growth and loss of innocence, each precursors to discovering new ideas, which extrapolated in William Shakespeare 's 1661 tragicomedy of ‘The Tempest, ‘Sky High’ by Hannah Roberts and J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ (1951). This notion is shown in William Shakespeare’s 1661 tragicomedy of ‘The Tempest’ (1611), in which it elucidates the transformative power of meaningful discoveries that manifest an individual 's desire to re-evaluate
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.
A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all
