Sofia Ye 3/22/2023 In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, 16-year-old Holden Caufield narrates his experiences after being kicked out of boarding school. He is an easily irritated and critical individual who is caught between adulthood and childhood. He has strong opinions on the two worlds and expresses them when he says he wants to be a “catcher in the rye”. This title refers to Holden’s desire to protect kids from adulthood which relates to his aversion to change and growing up. Holden’s explanation of a catcher in the rye symbolizes his desire to protect kids from growing up. When his younger sister Phoebe asks him to name one thing he would like to be, he says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye… 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… I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (173) The field of rye symbolizes the innocent and safe world of childhood. He wants to catch …show more content…
When Mr. Spencer, his teacher, asks him if he cares about his future, he responds, “‘Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure, I do.’ I thought about it for a minute. ‘But not too much, I guess.’” (14) Holden doesn’t have ambitions. He got kicked out of four schools, because he didn’t apply himself and failed his classes. He avoids anything that relates to growing up, including advancing in school and preparing for a successful future. Instead, his ideal future is simple. During a date with Sally Hayes, he asks her, “How would you like to get the hell out of here?... What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont… We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out.” (132) He wants to live an unchanging life free of commitment and responsibilities, which are huge parts of