Catcher In The Rye Essay Thesis

In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield states that he wants to be a catcher in a field of rye. Holden wants to give kids the opportunity to stay innocent. He wants to give them the opportunity to be caught, to be saved from all the responsibilities that one acquires when becoming an adult. He wants to catch them and push them back into their youth, back to where they had someone to talk to, and when they had friends that they could talk to and have fun with. In Holden’s life, he has suffered an immense loss, the loss of his little brother Allie.

Holden Caulfield. A troubled teenager who has experienced tragic events in his life such as the loss of his beloved brother Allie and getting kicked out of school four times for failing a majority of his classes. However, Holden’s biggest fear in The Catcher in the Rye is acknowledging adulthood and growing up. He believes that adults are inevitably “phonies” and as a result they stand as a symbol of everything that's wrong in the world- his world. Slowly, Holden starts to understand the concept of adulthood and has a chance to face his fear of growing up as his sister Phoebe sheds some light in his complicated life.

While some members of society desire to isolate themselves from the impurities and imperfections that plague the world around them, achieving the societal utopia of truth and perfection is one that stands in contradistinction to the definition of humanity itself. In J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, we are situated inside the mind of Holden Caulfield, a teen who has trouble fitting into the apparent “phony” norms and contours that he is expected to assimilate into. In other words, Holden Caulfield is rightfully marked as a deviant misfit, often alienating himself from the ever changing world around him. In my opinion, it would be of value to look away from society as a whole and begin to problematize the totalizing nature of Holden’s rationality.

The Catcher In The Rye Final Essay This book, The Catcher In The Rye, written by J.D Salinger is a novel that portrays many themes that appears occasionally in every chapter. One of the themes was growing up. Holden, the protagonist in the book has been kicked out of prep school over four times, thought of everyone he saw as phonies, and has always deemed himself of depressed thoughts. He had trouble coping with life, change, and refused to face the fact that growing up is avoidable as what Alan Watts states,” life can never be grasped, never possessed or made to stand still.”

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield recounts his experience in New York City after his expulsion from his third school. Holden, the central character of the novel, describes all characters he meets descriptively, yet he never provides an explanation of his motives. Luckily, Holden’s personality is reflected through the various symbols throughout the novel. J.D Salinger uses symbolism to create an intimate connection to Holden’s unique emotions in an ever changing society. To begin, we first gain insight of Holden’s character through his odd taste in choice.

The Catcher in the Rye and The Breakfast Club both show that the loss of innocence is inevitable in children when they are prematurely exposed to the realities of adulthood. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden loses his innocence when he witnesses actions that were more mature than what he was exposed to as a child. Holden checks into a run-down hotel and looks out his window only to view a sight which was very odd and strange to him. He could see a couple in another room taking turns spitting mouthfuls of their drinks on each other. Holden describes the scene, “The trouble was, that kind of junk is sort of fascinating to watch, even if you don’t want it to be… I don’t like the idea.

In the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden was molded into someone with a more hopeful future. He went from a life of sloth and indifference to fighting for children and generously helping save their innocence. Holden first displays the sin of sloth through all aspects of his life, especially in his schooling. He is failing four out of five of his classes. Holden is a high school student and has been expelled of four schools already for academic failure.

Expelled from his fourth school, Holden goes on a journey back home, in Manhattan, where he wanted to be all along but was too afraid. Holden was only able to communicate to his late brother, Allie, and his younger sister, Phoebe. He urges to not only protect children but himself from the innocence of childhood into adulthood. J.D. Salinger’s book The Catcher of in the Rye shows a teenage boy going through fear, signs of depression, and his concerns about adulthood. Holden Caulfield, sixteen years old, goes through a crisis identity.

Holden struggles to become the catcher in the rye. He want to do something in his life and just does not know who to accomplish his goal. Holden is faced with certain challenges that he must overcome before he can save anyone. When explaining his dream to Phoebe Holden says,“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” Salinger 191 pg.

The story reflects the critical view of a troubled teenager, Holden Caulfield, towards everyone around him and society itself. This character has a view of the world where everyone should be altruistic, and values purity and naivety over money, sex, and power. Even though, he lives in a world where it’s simply not achievable. Leaving Holden damaged because his own loss of innocence gives him a desire to protect others who have yet to have the realization of how corrupt the world is. In the Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger used the symbols such as “the catcher in the rye,” the “Shirley Beans” record, graffiti on the wall, and the characterization of Holden Caulfield as misguided protector, to develop the theme that one cannot stop someone from losing their innocence.