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Themes In Catcher In The Rye

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Bildungsroman novels are novels commonly centered around the theme of loss of innocence and growing up. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is an example of this genre of literature - this book features an emotionally stressed individual named Holden Caulfield. Due to a loss of innocence, he finds himself in a depression which is observable throughout the book. The author makes the main character express multiple different motifs relating to the loss of innocence through growing up, prominently alienation, which have ultimately led to his depression. Holden feels alienated increasingly often during the books which leads directly to his existential beliefs and depression. The first example displayed in the book was in the primary setting - him standing on Thomsen Hill, which was because he was kicked out of Pencey, his 4th school where he failed out of. A scene connected to this one in which he describes how he left the foils on the subway, and how his fencing team ostracized him on the way back due to his mishap. The second time where it is possible to observe Holden’s alienation of himself is in chapter 1, while he’s going to …show more content…

Ultimately, Holden’s general loss of innocence can be attributed and supported mainly to Allie’s death. The theme of the book supports him attempting to save children from what he’s gone through by “losing their innocence,” but Holden aspires to be a “catcher in the rye” - which equates to someone who catches children from falling off of a cliff in a big field of rye (symbolizing inevitable losing innocence) that he believes they shouldn’t navigate themselves. We are able to observe many instances of this and analyze the specific details associated with each event, such as the Lavender Room and Phoebe, and discover a correlation between his alienation and his depression which stem from his loss of innocence - due to Allie’s

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There are three main things that display Holden’s loss of innocence: his excessive drinking and smoking, leaving for three days and not contacting anyone, and Sunny the prostitute. When Holden is drinking and smoking, it shows how much h doesn’t care about his own health and how he’s more mature than others his age. When he doesn’t contact anyone it shows how he believes he can take care of himself and is an adult, much like when he interacts with Sunny. Holden helps many of the children who he meets keep their innocence because he has lost his. In An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye, Lingdi Chen says that Holden sees the protection of children’s innocence as a primary virtue and that he enjoys being with Jane Gallagher and Phoebe because they are innocent and youthful.

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His parents sent him to three different prep schools, all of which he had been kicked out of. Without a solid environment, Holden has been unable to make many friends in which he can find sympathy and comfort. This makes him become an introvert. “…I was standing way the hell up on top of Thompsen Hill…” (Salinger, Page 2). He finds it hard to relate to people because they don’t understand him or his circumstances.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the story, Holden’s decisions and attitude were manipulated by constant grief and sorrow. The remnant of pain from Allie’s death made Holden obsessed with the idea of preserving childhood youth, which came with his fear of growing

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742 Words | 3 Pages

Death is a major reason why he is dedicated to holding onto childhood innocence, as he cannot accept that children grow into adulthood only to end up dying. It is clear that Holden loves Allie very much, and he has a hard time accepting Allie’s death. As a result, he grows a desire to hold onto childhood because with growing up comes death. Finally, the pivotal moment in which Holden demonstrates maturity is when he watches his younger sister, Phoebe, ride on a carousel. He notices that “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything.

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111 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the novel, Holden has a difficult teenage life, he is not responsible and can not face consequences that follow his irresponsibility. Holden can not let go of his childhood, and he has a tough time because he has to behave like an adult, now that he is 16. Holden is obsessed with his dead brother Allie, and his younger sister Phoebe because they are better than he is. Throughout the novel, Holden had many opportunities to get advice from the others that want to help. He refuses to go home and tell his parents he got kicked out of another school because he does not want to face the

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488 Words | 2 Pages

In J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the coming of age archetype is inevitable, as the protagonist matures greatly throughout his physical journey. Holden started off as as sad as night, with aimlessness, pain and depression. He did not pretend the process of mourning was simple, and blind his eyes to the difficulty of accepting the loss of his brother. However, the truth is divulged here, proving to mourn, as painful and mentally agonizing. He could not easily move on with his life, go to school and make friends, when Allie was gone, forever.

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

The effects of Holden constantly isolating himself can be seen especially through his improper speech and how he speaks to others. For example in chapter two Holden says “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies (pg 14).” In this Holden is exhibiting his poor vocabulary and shows how he does not put thought into the things he says. When he uses the word phonies to describe the boys at Elkton Hills in reality he means he thinks they are boys whom he is not friends with and does not like. In many other cases Holden appears to immediately result to the word phony when describing something or someone he does not like.

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”(Salinger, p.199). Holden’s struggle to maintain his own innocence, paired with his sense of inability to shield those he cares about from the harsh realities of transition and loss of innocence. Throughout the novel, Holden sees innocence and adolescence as a thing to be protected. To Holden, innocence represents purity and authenticity that he sees as increasingly rare and precious in the world around him. He idealizes childhood innocence, viewing it as a time of honesty, simplicity, and genuine emotion, untouched by the phoniness and corruption of

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1325 Words | 6 Pages

He knows that the school doesn’t want him to be there anymore, his roommate almost beat him unconscious, and his parents will only be disappointed when they know that he has been expelled from yet another school. For Holden, it seems like there is no one else to turn to, except his younger sister Phoebe who he can’t see unless he goes home. Teenagers all across America feel this same sort of detachment from the rest of society. Only one thing going wrong could cause the rest of our worlds to collapse. Holden ended up trying to live on the streets when he ran out of money, and as the story progressed, he dug himself into a larger hole of loneliness.

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522 Words | 3 Pages

In life we come across moments we never want to end. A moment where time is not of the essence; a moment you don't want to forget. In this novel The Catcher in the Rye, we meet the main character; Holden Caulfield. He does not enjoy how fast life is moving and wishes somethings could just stay the same. In the book we follow Holden during a difficult point in his life, so we are able to grasp important themes that allow us to connect with the book.

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1095 Words | 5 Pages

In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye children are a symbol of innocence. Throughout our world, children have been used or seen as a symbol of innocence. From being free of moral wrongdoing to having a lack of knowledge the word innocence means different things and it has a different connotation depending on the context it is used in. In The Catcher in the Rye the innocence of children, in its multitude of manors, is displayed through the actions of Holden, Phoebe, and other actions in the novel.

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1076 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses the main character Holden Caulfield to portray the loss of innocence. Holden is a teenage boy who struggles with adulthood and the innocence of being a child. Through Holden's experiences, Salinger shows that the loss of innocence can be painful and difficult, but it is also necessary for personal growth and maturity. Holden's journey towards loss of innocence is shown by several events, such as his expulsion from Pencey Prep School and his roams in New York City. Holden's expulsion from Pencey is a turning point in the novel, as it marks the beginning of his realization that he can no longer hold on to the innocence of childhood.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

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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1230 Words | 5 Pages

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

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1471 Words | 6 Pages

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help develop and inform the text 's major themes. One of the recurring themes in the novel The Catcher in the Rye is the omnipresent theme of death. It could be argued that the novel is not only full of references to death in the literal sense, physical disappearance, but also in the metaphorical, taking the form of spiritual disappearance, something which Holden often focuses on, along with the actual theme of mortality. It is possible that this occurs because of his reluctance to interact with the living world. As his means of escaping from the reality he despises, his mundane thoughts and the “phoniness” that he is surrounded by.

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