Holden’s Modern Day Mission The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is a story about Holden. Who relates the story of what happened the previous December when he was still sixteen and a student at Pencey Prep. He tries to save the innocence of children and he does not want kids to go into their adulthood. He wants to protect them. In modern society Holden’s mission would be to stop young people from losing their innocence even though he would face many obstacles in achieving his mission and would ultimately find that his crusade was not worthwhile. Holden's mission in modern society might be to educate young teens from abuse of drugs and alcohol. Under the influence of drugs and alcohol, young teens do not use good judgement. These …show more content…
It is very important for young people to lose their innocence to grow older and understand the world around them more clearly. If they don’t lose their innocence, life will not be the same. They will have less knowledge than other people and they will separate from their society. Without the loss of innocence, young people would think the world is a very cruel place. In The Catcher in the Rye at the end of the book, Holden says, “I could probably tell you what I did after I went home, and how I got sick and all, and what school I’m supposed to go next fall”(213). Holden tried to protect his own and other people's innocence, so he did not lose his innocence. Because he never matured, he eventually ended up in an asylum. People thought he was crazy or something. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden says “ I mean, how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don’t”(213). This quote explains that if young people do not have experiences that cause them to lose their innocence, how would they know how something feels? For example, If a person were walking on the road and saw someone getting hit by a car and dying, he or she would experience those certain feelings like fear, hopelessness, stress, and not being able to move. They would lose their innocence by watching someone die, but gain some knowledge. If they hadn’t lost their innocence and had not seen him die, how would they know how it feels when someone dies? Even I, personally, think young people have to lose some of their innocence at some point in their life to mature Therefore, Holden’s campaign is not
(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
Holden has every right to be upset about how innocent things are treated. He doesn't want innocence ruined, he can't even throw a snowball at perfectly clean snow. Something that might also tie Holden to this obsession with innocence is the death of his little brother. Something so pure and innocent died due to something that he couldn't help. It would make sense that Holden wants to protect it (innocence) as much as he can now, even though thats not his duty.
The argument that throughout Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden Caulfield is portrayed as an abused adolescent, who is trying to protect the virtue of innocence while he ironically needs saving himself. Throughout Baumbach’s argument and analysis, it is clear that he believes Holden is struggling to hold on to his innocence when he states “This is his paradox: he must leave innocence to protect innocence” (paragraph 5, line 5). In this quote, Baumbach explains to the readers that Holden struggles to be himself due to the fact that he can not let go of his innocence. This is due to the fact Holden’s main concern about letting go of his innocence is that he will become fake or ‘phony’ like everyone else.
He talks quite a bit about sex, but his virginity is the last existing innocence to him. Holden pays for a prostitute to have sex with, but he cannot go through with it. He is very hesitant about losing his innocence. Holden wants to be “the catcher in the rye” (191) and save all the innocence in the world. He believes that that is what he wants to do in the future as he tells his little sister, Phoebe.
“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 novel “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger is about a young man named Holden who doesn’t know when to grow up and finds himself in hard situations. He struggles dealing with the death of his little brother, Allie and also gets kicked out of four schools. As Holden goes on a journey to find himself, he ends up finding out more about the world. The author J.D Salinger uses innocence as a central theme for the novel. The author J.D. Salinger uses a variety of symbols like the kids playing near the cliff, fuck you graffiti, and Allie’s death to show that Holden believes knowledge kills the innocence of kids.
When she asks what he wants to do with his life. Holden answers, “I’d just be the catcher on the rye and all (173).” He so badly wants to save kids from plunging into the adult world. All adolescents mature, no matter how aware, and they must encounter evil. Holden realizes this as the good he strives to preserve is threatened.
From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.
Though Holden believes the world around him is phony and wicked, and while he wants to be the catcher in the rye, catching those who will fall over cliff; Holden does not only want to save those children but he also wants to save himself. Holden displays his desire to be the catcher in the rye by expressing his wish to protect the kids from falling off the cliff. Throughout the novel, Holden often states that everything around him seems to be phony; however, there is one thing in which Holden believes is real, and that is the children he encounters in the novel. Quite often does Holden show his desire to protect children from the corrupted adulthood that he
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.
In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger through the character Holden show the readers that at one point, everyone has to go through the journey of innocence. Holden is a seventeen year old teenager who loses his innocence along with the death of his endearing brother and draws a conclusion that losing innocence is harmful. His own journey of innocence consists of him losing innocence, then trying to protect others from losing innocence, and finally realizing that losing innocence is not damaging as he imagined it to be. Therefore, through his journey, J. D. Salinger proves that although losing innocence is damaging and can break a person, it is not as damaging as trying to protect one’s innocence because it is unrealistic.
Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that was written by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company and was originally written for adults, but became popular among teenagers for its teenage main character, who deals with problems a large number of adolescents face in their transition into adulthood. It is not a difficult book to read, especially considering it is only 234 pages. The story revolves around the protagonist, a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who recently flunked out of a prestigious preparatory school.
Many people harbour a desire to accomplish something specific in life. Sometimes this desire stems from the background of a person, and sometimes desires are developed over time and with age. “The Catcher in the Rye” narrated by Holden Caulfield, who is an overly disturbed teenager, is about the change from childhood to adulthood. Holden, like many, has a burning desire to protect the innocence of children; this desire is tied to the themes of relationships, intimacy and sexuality which are carried throughout the novel. In a stroke of genius, the author, J.D. Salinger, sums up this desire in the title, which is taken from a poem by Robert Burns: Comin ' thro ' the Rye ( 1796).
Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.