Holden And The Perks Of Being A Wallflower In Catcher In The Rye

“Adolescence is the conjugator of childhood and adulthood” by Louise J. Kaplan. Holden and Charlie both live in a risky time of adolescence and are attempting to make better sense of the world around them. The existence of adolescence in the Catcher in the Rye and the perks of being a wallflower are constructed through the examination of innocence, phoniness, and isolation. Firstly, the Catcher in the Rye and the perks of being a wallflower demonstrates Holden’s and Charlie’s innocence throughout the novels. Innocence in the Catcher in the Rye is shown when Holden explains his idea of the Catcher in the Rye more fully, it's revealed to be his vision of a protecting field of innocence where Holden is the guardian stopping kids as

Holden lacks matureness to understand losing innocence is a part of growing up. This is shown when Holden says “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… I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.” (Salinger 173) This symbolizes how Holden would like to catch children before they fall like he did, before adulthood corrupted him. In this metaphor, he envisions a field of rye standing by a cliff. Children play in the field and if they come too close to the edge of the cliff, Holden is there to catch them. Holden Caulfield wants to preserve the innocence of children, this is very important to him. Another example of innocence in the Catcher in the Rye is when Holden notices a “fuck you” scratched on the wall, this proves that the innocent world of children has already been infected by the profanities of the adult world. This is shown when Holden says “But while I was sitting down, I saw something

Isolation in the Catcher in the Rye is shown when Holden says “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall…It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win.” (Salinger 2) in this quote Holden could not care less about the game from the way Holden is describing the game. Right from the beginning Holden shows his isolation through his lack of attendance at the biggest game of the year. This just emphasizes his lack of belonging. It is clear that Holden is not like the other students at Pencey. Instead of attending a social gathering, he was off by himself. He does not seem to grasp the idea of spending time with others who he should want to connect to but instead he considers them as "phonies". Another example of isolation in the Catcher in the Rye is when Holden says “The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz. I left my bags right outside the booth so that I could watch them, but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up." (Salinger 59) Following this quote Holden lists four people whom he could call, his brother D.B, his little sister Phoebe, Jane Gallagher, and Sally Hayes. But despite being able to call anyone of