Why Is The Catcher In The Rye Bad

Growing older can be seen as a negative or positive thing based on one’s perspective. Although some may see it as a bad thing, in reality it is a good thing that we must all do. The character, Holden Caulfield in the novel Catcher in the Rye, sees growing older as a bad thing which is why he characterizes it with falling. Throughout the entire book, Holden’s view of life is pessimistic because of his view of becoming mature, but why does he view it this way?
Holden Caulfield sees getting older as losing innocence and becoming “dirty”. He likes kids because of their innocence and their naivety to the real world and it’s corruptions. He thinks that once you get older you realize how the world is a cruel and unfair place. When talking about the one thing he would want to do in his life he explains that he would want to catch everybody “if they start to go over the cliff”. He thinks of the cliff as the point of getting older and that once you fall you lose your innocence, so he would want to be able to stop all children from getting older and finding out the cold truth of how the world is like.
Throughout the book, Holden calls pretty much everyone, who isn’t a child, a phony. This is another reason why Holden doesn’t want children to “fall” and become older because he thinks that when

He thinks of it as becoming ignorant to the harsh realities the world has. In some cases Holden’s thoughts are true, there are people who choose to ignore the world’s problems and go on with their life, but there are plenty of other people who choose to not ignore the truth and find ways that they can help. We should all become older and experience this fall and realize that the world isn’t a happy place full of rainbows and smiles so we can find ways of helping our world and all people who have been suffering for too long. We should all fall and come into realizations instead of staying in