Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

Protection Of Innocence In “The Catcher in the Rye,” it focuses on many things but one in particular, protection of innocence, especially of children. For most of the book, Holden paints this as the main virtue, Holden’s longing to preserve the innocence of childhood. As the definition for the loss of innocence is, “An experience or period in a person's life that leads to a greater awareness of evil, pain and/or suffering in the world around them.” With that said, Holden is afraid of adulthood because, after the suicide of James Castle, he fears that he will not survive the transition from childhood into adulthood. In JD Salinger's “Catcher in the Rye”, a troubled teenager named Holden Caulfield struggles with the fact that everyone has

Holden hasn’t ever dealt with death before, and for this to happen to his own brother, it’s obviously going to mess with his head. Holden now believes that he has to protect everyone from becoming adults because of this and because his younger brother died. He believes that once you become an adult, you actually die. He is too involved with the thought of growing up, he isn’t maturing himself. Holden's rendering of this information about his brother clearly shows he idealizes him. According to Holden, he's the most intelligent, nicest, sweetest, and most endearing kid with the best sense of humor you'll ever meet. In Holden's love for his brother and in his pain over Allie's death, Holden has glorified Allie into something of a saint: “It wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid, though” (Sallinger 24). Holden also states, “I slept in the garage the night he (Allie) died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 44). This shows that he is really affected by his brother's death, and he was so tight with his brother. Holden is as tight as you

Holden became this way due to past traumatic events that he can’t let go of. Without these events, Holden is a normal kid who is still in school and isn't completely insane, causing all of the world's problems. But after many friends attempted to make him sane again, nothing seemed to work, and you could tell he completely lost it. Although Holden’s mental state is never specifically disclosed, it is clear that Salinger intended on describe Holden as a troubled, and even insane, individual. Holden has little control over his actions, is constantly lying, and purposefully alienates himself from others. It is clear of these things because, although Holden never says it, he makes it obvious he is undergoing treatment for this exact thing as he is writing this story. It’s clear that he thinks that becoming an adult is so bad because his parents were terrible to him and gave him no attention growing up. As a result, his mind became entangled with the notion that becoming an adult was bad and that he had to keep everyone from becoming one. Holden was clearly insane, he didn’t get any love or affection from his parents, he couldn’t let go of past trauma, and he struggled with the fact that everyone had to grow up. But he did it for one reason: to protect everyone else, to protect