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Examples Of Misfit In Catcher In The Rye

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How would you feel if you were outcasted by society, looked down upon by everyone else around you, never to fit in. This is the life that Holden Caulfield has to live. Holden Caulfield is a character in the book, The Catcher In the Rye, that is viewed as a misfit but assigned this label by society around him. Holden just has a different perspective on the world than everyone else, causing him to be seen as lower than everyone else. Holden doesn't believe in how materialistic things make you happy, he doesn't agree with people pretending to be someone that they truly are not, and he wants to protect children from the world and keep their innocence for as long as he can. It is not Holden Caulfield who is a misfit in our society, but society …show more content…

He loves the innocence that children have and wants to protect that as much as he can. He sees how the world is full of phonies, lies, and people who care more about objects than people, and he wants to protect the children from ever losing their innocence. He doesn't like his older brother D.B. very much, calling him a phony at times, but he really likes his little sister Phoebe. He really wants to protect her innocence and keep her from becoming a phony for as long as he can. In addition, Holden has a younger brother, Allie, who died when he was very young and in Holden's mind Allie will stay innocent forever. It's why holden likes his little brother Allie so much, even though he isn't alive anymore. Another example of how holden tries to protect the innocence of children is when he sees the words “F**K YOU” written on the wall of phoebe's school bathroom. Holden states, “I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam dead and bloody.” (117) Holden shows here how he would literally kill someone to protect the kids from losing their innocence. Holden just wants to protect kids from every becoming obsessed with materialistic things and becoming phonies, he just wants to save them from the loss of their

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“If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then your not as good anymore.” (Salinger 140) Holden hates how phony adults are, and how they are all acting a part. He will always take a dislike to his own childhood experiences, but he does everything he can to protect others from experiencing bad moments. Holden never had the childhood he dreamed of, and he holds onto the hope that he can provide innocence for Phoebe.

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He is unable to embrace the challenges and responsibilities of adulthood because he is fixated on the innocence and purity of childhood. His interactions with Phoebe, his younger sister, demonstrate this. When Phoebe asks Holden "you know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddamn choice?", he starts to talk about being "the catcher in the rye" (173). He sees himself as the protector of childhood innocence, Holden also imagines scenarios showing his resistance to adult responsibilities and challenges.

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He feels very protective of his little sister Phoebe because she reminds Holden of Allie since they are both younger than Holden and have red hair. For example, when visiting Phoebe’s school, Holden becomes infuriated by the profanity written on the wall and is concerned that other kids, including Phoebe, may see the writing (Salinger 221). Not only does Holden want to prevent other kids from growing up, he wants to keep his own innocence so he does not forget about Allie. Holden notes that “the best thing [about museums] was that everything always stayed right where it was… The only thing that would be different

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In this quote he tells that his brother died. This shows his brother died when he was young. Furthermore he dies as an innocent child who was not exposed to the adult world or the “phoniness.” Allie's death was tragic to Holden but maybe, in some ways Holden wanted the death himself, he wanted to preserve his innocence. Another point that shows Allie's mitt represents innocence is when Holden says Allie used to read poems on his glove while playing baseball which he wrote before the game so he wouldn’t be bored.

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