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What Does The Field Symbolize In Catcher In The Rye

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Throughout the book “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J. D. Salinger there were many symbols such as the red hunting hat, the ducks, and the Allie’s mitt, just to name a few. ln this paper I look into why the rye field is symbolic and how it contributes to the actions of the main character and the theme of the story. The symbol though is that Holden wants to protect children from having a fall from innocence. One symbol within the book is the rye field. To me I believe that the field represents the innocence of children. Holden wants to be the person that keeps the children from losing their innocence. We all must grow up, and by growing up into an adult, Holden believes that children lose their innocence. Growing up into an adult is the exact thing that Holden is afraid of himself. …show more content…

He purposely tries to be immature in order to avoid the harsh reality of the adult world and to preserve his own innocence. For example when he orders the hooker while in the hotel and he does not do anything with her, all they did was talk. And after that he ended up getting punched in the face by the pimp. I don’t think that was a very friendly welcoming into the adult world for Holden. Another example is Holden’s childhood friend Jane. When she started to talk to Stradlater it hurt him. He realizes that Jane was no longer a child yet he remembers all of his memories with her and it hurts him to think of what she and Stradlater are doing. He knows that she no longer possesses her innocence due to maturing. It hurts Holden because in life he tries to protect people from losing their

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It’s nice” (Salinger 185). In the book The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses many different analytic techniques in order to establish a story about a confused and disillusioned teen, Holden Caulfield. Salinger uses the themes of blindness, symbolism, and irony to help further the reader's understanding of the story. Inside The Catcher in the Rye, there are many techniques used to help the reader understand the book. Firstly, the theme of blindness is seen throughout the book with our main character, Holden Caulfield.

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He tries to give himself up for this cause of saving children but he shows that he is not mature enough be able to make a meaningful impact in this perceived problem. It is clearly shown that Holden believes that there is a problem in society. He believes that children need to keep their innocence. He feels that loss of innocence negatively impacts people and feels that he has to save them. We can first see his personal issues about the lack of innocence when he discovers that Stradlater and Jane Gallagher had sex casually with no intention

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Sometimes, he shows phoniness, unkindness, and emptiness than anyone else in the book. Also, the dialect that the author gives Holden is inappropriate yet Holden has hatred that they’re vulgar words on the wall and that kids can be influenced by that and he wants to retain children innocent. As I was saying, the author gives Holden an inappropriate dialectal, for people in general, which for some people

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Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.

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