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Catcher In The Rye Thesis

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Jordan Snyder Ms. McConn 5 English 10H 13 September 2017 The lost goal In J.D Salinger’s book the Catcher in the Rye, Holden, a seventeen-year-old boy from Pennsylvania tells his story of trying to achieve his goal, become the catcher in the rye. As the seventeen-year-old boy is at the verge of becoming an adult he tries to become the “Catcher in the Rye’ to help children from falling off the cliff into adulthood rather than loosing their innocence. Holden does not want kids to fall off the cliff, but he is on the verge himself. Mr. Antolini brings up another picture of falling when he is talking with Holden about his actions in school. He tells Holden that he expected to fall soon. “This fall I think you’re riding for—it’s a special kind …show more content…

Holden wants kids to stay naïve and does not want them to fall into adulthood, “And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody, if they start to go over the cliff…” (173). As a teenager on the border of falling off the cliff, Holden does not want other kids to become phony. Holden wanting to be the catcher in the rye shows that he appreciates the younger world and wants it back. Throughout the story, Holden is faced with times where he is surrounded by phoniness, but tries to hide it from Phoebe and other young kids, but as hard as he tries, the phoniness will always find a way out. “Somebody’d written ‘Fuck You’ on the wall… I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant…” (201). Holden was worried that when Phoebe and the other little kids would see the bad words written on the wall they would get closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Holden tried to keep the impurity out of the kid’s sight so their innocence would be preserved. Also the first thing he thought was that an impure and phony person, an adult, would write this, never a kid. Although Holden is on the verge of falling off the cliff himself, he wants to save the innocent by becoming the catcher in the rye. At a certain point, Holden takes Phoebe to a symbolic place, a

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Towards the end of the story, while having a conversation with Phoebe about what Holden wants to do with his life, he tells her, “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (Salinger 173). With this, Holden further reveals his childhood fantasy of being a hero and saving everyone. In his soul, Holden is an innocent boy who does not want to grow up.

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“ I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobody’s around - nobody big, I mean- except me and I 'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do 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 that 's all I do all day I just be the catcher in the rye and all…”(Salinger 173). Holden doesn’t want to grow up, and he doesn’t want anyone else to grow up.

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Holden’s dream of wanting to be the catcher in the rye proves that he wants to keep every child innocent and pure. He says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around―nobody big, I mean―except me” (Salinger 224). Holden wants no adults except for him in the field because he believes that the adults are the ones who change children and break their innocence. Similar to his dream of being the catcher in the rye, his fantasy about the glass cases and the cabin camps also proves that Holden wants to protect others and himself from losing innocence by isolation.

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Holden has grown out of the innocence of his childhood. Holden often finds his happiness from children as he states, “I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy but that's the only thing I'd really like to be”(Salinger, 191). What Holden means, is that he would save all the children from falling off of the cliff, which represents adulthood, preserving their innocence. Holden likes the

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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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In the beginning of the novel, Holden demonstrates a clear desire to preserve childhood innocence. When conversing with Phoebe about his future plans, Holden responds, “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-- nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” (Salinger 173).

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He tells readers that he is feeling peculiar, probably because of how nervous he is and the amount of regret he might be feeling at the moment. This plays a big part in the book because this is one of the first times we see that Holden is protecting his innocents by not giving up his virginity. Even though he is acting grown, Holden doesn't want it to change. The novel states that Holden is the catcher in the rye. Describing Holden catching kids from falling off a cliff symbolizing the protection of innocence.

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Holden wanting to live as a child pure and innocent like he sees the kids at Phoebe's school, thinking how they could be tainted by the writing of “Fuck you”(Salinger, 202) on the walls when in reality it was most likely a child who had written it to get a laugh from their classmates, or

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This is most likely because Holden wants to continue living in the past when his brother was alive. Several occasions in the novel Holden expresses the feeling that he is responsible for protecting the innocence of children since he was unable to save Allie. The title of The Catcher in the Rye reflects this responsibility since when Holden is talking to his sister, he says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing… And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff… I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff,” (Salinger 191). To Holden, falling of the cliff represents the shattering of a child’s innocence, and Holden feels like he has to stop children from growing up.

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It's shown in his attempt to erase the F-word off of public places so kids won’t see it. When his younger sister, Phoebe, asked him what he wants in life, Holden responds with, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to fall over the cliff” (Salinger 173). Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye”. He wants to catch the children as they fall into adulthood, when they lose their innocence. He wants to be a hero but doesn’t want the recognition.

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1668 Words | 7 Pages

He views adults as “phonies” who cope with the loss of their innocence by lying to both themselves and others and greedily filling the void in their hearts with any vice they can, whether that is money, power, or even sex. Being so intensely invested in preserving the happiness of those around him, Holden takes it upon himself to become a protector, of sorts, of the children whose innocence are in jeopardy. In a moment of tenderness, he admits to Phoebe that in an ideal world, he would watch over children playing in a field full of rye and “catch everybody if they start to go off the cliff” (p. 173). Holden’s Peter-Pan-esque desire to preserve the purity of youth is represented by the cliff because falling off really means plunging off of the golden fields of childhood into the shadowy depths of adult society, which he sees as full of indecency and corruption. His time in New York City only serves to further fuel his disillusionment with the state of society, as he finds himself surrounded by adults who are uncaring, emotionally (and possibly even sexually) abusive, and resigned to living uninspired lifestyles that match the grey, drab, and depressing environment that the city is painted to be.

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While visiting Phoebe’s school, he notices profanity written on the wall. Trying to remove them, he comes to the realization that “If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the “f**k you” signs in the world. It's impossible” (Salinger 202). Holden knows a child’s innocence is gone when exposed to such obscenities. He finally accepts that he is not capable of preventing the corruption of others.

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2150 Words | 9 Pages

Holden thinks that most everything is about him in a childish sense. When he sees vulgar words written on walls, he believes that they are aimed at him somehow and thinks that the entire adult world doesn’t accept him. The F you written on the wall is a statement made more towards society and not to one specific person, especially Holden. However, he takes this “F you” very personally and lets it affect his behavior. He backs away from the adult life and thinks about the amazing relationships he has when he was a child.

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2008 Words | 9 Pages

Holden feels that most things in life are often best when left untouched and in its original state. Which is similar to how he feels about adolescence; it should not be tarnished by outside influences and continue to remain pure. Although he is enthralled with the idea of innocence, he cannot be the catcher in the rye because he is far too innocent himself. Holden naively believes that the lyrics of the song indicates the potential preservation of childhood innocence: “‘It's 'If a body meet a body comin thro the rye'!’ old Phoebe said.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.

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