“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it” (Salinger 18). Holden Caulfield, the blunt narrator and protagonist of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, is a character many adolescents relate to and would be considered a character worthy of calling the author. Despite the carefree, humorous attitude of the character, Holden has an extreme internal struggle with the transition from an adolescent to an adult. “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” a poem by Robert Frost, encompasses the theme that precious times and situations are destined to change into something that may …show more content…
Frost uses several examples to express this idea such as, “So dawn goes down to day,” and “So Eden sank to grief.” The use of nature symbolizes the idea that beautiful things and ideal situations do not last forever, but will eventually wither away. For example, Eden was a place of innocence and purity. But once Adam and Eve sinned, the most perfect place became tainted with sin. Holden Caulfield, the narrator and protagonist of Catcher in the Rye, goes through a similar inner conflict in accepting his change from adolescence to adulthood. Holden struggles with the idea of becoming an adult and becoming a “phony” like the ones whom he criticizes. “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all. They were coming in the goddam window” (Salinger 13). Although Holden appreciates the “benefits” of adulthood such as alcohol, smoking, and sex, he has a hard time coping with the idea that when he enters the adult world he is losing his innocence, genuineness, and probity. He realizes the ugliness and hypocrisy around him, which diminishes the innocence and beauty of the external world. Holden’s conflict, fused with the theme of Frost’s poem, suggests that the beauty of childlike innocence will one day wither