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Characterization of holden caulfield
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(Salinger, 173). His obsession with being the catcher in the rye shows that he didn't want children to get caught up in the corrupt and complex world of adulthood, so he desired them to stay kids and preserve their innocence. Thus, proving Holden is naïve to the idea of losing his childhood innocence, since he’s being “forced” into
In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the recurring theme of protection of innocence arises. The book primarily focuses on the protection of innocence in children especially and how it affects the main characters struggle against growing up. This theme not only recurred in the book, but also reocurrs in modern society. Modern society protects the innocence in children by providing censorship on specific genres of music and tv shows and by supervising their daily activities. The main character in Catcher in the Rye protected children by trying to block out anything that could mar their minds, such as the F-words in Phoebe’s (teacher) school.
Abby Steadman Ms. Crane Accelerated English 10 05 April 2023 The Loss of Innocence in Life In the show All American, Spencer James’s father left the family when he was young, leaving his mother to support a toddler and little kid. Spencer was forced to mature quickly to help support his family. He saw the cruel world at a young age, which caused him to lose his innocence and become more naive.
Children are Safe in Glass Cases Much like the social mood in Europe after the Napoleonic wars, the globe after both World Wars I and II was left reeling in the wake of horrors both experienced and committed between 1914 and 1945. Written in the appalled aftermath of World War II, J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, explores the loss of innocence acutely felt by all through Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old boy trying to make the most of three days of freedom. Throughout the book, the downwards spiral of his mental health is as violent and devastating as the planes falling out of the sky in the war, and after reminiscing about his unmarred childhood, the glass cases at the Natural History Museum become symbolic for Holden’s struggle
No one wants to grow up. The transitions from innocent childhood, to fearless adolescence, to sudden real and terrifying adulthood is enough to scare anyone. So, because of this, people have a natural desire to want to protect innocence, or perhaps to even stop time and live young and free forever. J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye portrays this dilemma of becoming an adult and the protection of innocence through the story of Holden Caulfield. Holden’s story is essentially that of a teenage boy bumming around New York City for a few days in search of someone to listen to him about his fears of becoming an adult.
As the title emphasizes, the theme that dominates throughout the novel is the protection of innocence. Holden is obsessed with the innocence of children in particular and this highlights his struggle against growing into adulthood. Innocence, in Holden’s eyes, is the experience of childhood without the intrusion of the adult world. He feels that a child’s innocence is the good qualities that he/she possesses as a child.
Adulthood is when we mature into a person that continues to live life in reality as we let our childhood and adolescence become a faint memory. The memories, however, taught us lessons of acceptance as we cannot always shape the future. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye takes a journey through the rite of passage by experiencing the innocence of youth and the phoniness of adulthood.
In particular, an instance of Holden’s willingness to die for a noble cause rather than living is his encounter at the Edmont Hotel with Maurice and Sunny, the prostitute who he doesn’t even have sex with. When Holden is confronted by the duo to steal five dollars from him, he speaks out and refuses to pay. His efforts were to no avail though, as he not only gets punched but also his money taken away from him. After pretending to be shot, he finally reveals what he felt like doing, which “…was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.”
He lies intensely throughout the course of the novel, starting from lying to Ackley at the very beginning of the book. From his sarcastic tone in his conversation with other people, readers can denote his own cynical view on the world. Holden views adulthood as phony, hypocritical and fake while childhood in his mind is a world of innocence, honesty, and joy. That is the main reason why he wants to be a “catcher in the rye” to protect and save all the children from falling into the phony adult world. Holden Caulfield’s despise of fakeness causes his resistance of growing into a more mature person, with the lack of ability to interact with other people, make him a
Innocence is a word used to describe someone 's purity. Children are prime examples of innocence, as they don’t have judgments and don’t understand mature topics. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the reader can interpret innocence as the growing up of the children. Specifically, Jem Finch showed a loss of innocence as he grew up. He showed his loss of innocence by not playing games, his more mature use of words and body language, and his different view of the world around him.
“Innocence is always unsuspicious”- Joseph Joubert The loss of innocence isn’t some big celebration when you hit a certain age, or have a certain experience, it is something that comes when you aren’t looking. J.D. Salinger was a man who kept to himself, didn’t offer many interviews, and wanted to make a difference. In this novel, he has woven the story of Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old, who has an adventure in New York City before going home and taking responsibility for his actions that fall. Throughout his time in the city, he matures and learns to look at the big picture.
In The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, introduces the protagonist; Holden Caulfield. Holden feels the sense that he cannot choose between the two worlds. For example, he makes it seem as both of them are complete opposites from each other. In the book, Holden wants to keep his innocence, but he also wants to grow up and toss that innocence away. He still keeps his childhood personality by constantly obsessing over things that shouldn’t matter.
Residing in the jungles of Madagascar, the Aye-aye is a very unique creature in the Animalia kingdom and is the only member of its family classification. Since the Aye-aye has such a unique physique, it was originally classified as a rodent, but is now considered a to be a specialized lemur. Once thought to be extinct, the Aye-Aye is now being more adequately studied but researchers, biologists, and scientists alike. The Aye-Aye is a unique species of Lemur dwelling in the rainforests of Madagascar. Originally thought to be a large species of Squirrel, The Aye-Aye is the largest nocturnal primate in the world.
A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all
The Mockingbird Spirit of Innocence How do you define innocence? Is there someone out in the world who is purely innocent? To understand innocence you should look at what a mockingbird does, because all they do is sing. In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus and Miss Maudie teach Scout and Jem that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
