Catcher In The Rye Innocence

This essay will be demonstrating how, although Holden makes progress towards the end of the novel in regards to gaining experience, he then regresses to his former state of innocence in the last chapter. The Catcher in the Rye is put into the category of a bildungsroman novel. A bildungsroman novel is typically a novel that moves the protagonist from a state of innocence to one of experience. Bildungsroman novels are coming of age stories.

In the novel he states how he wants children to be protected from vulgarity and therefore wants to be ‘The Catcher in the Rye’: the one who rescues adolescents from falling into, what he considers to be, the phoniness of adulthood. Throughout the novel, Holden has a positive attitude towards children and these relationships are essential to him. When Holden found out about the tragic death of his younger brother, Allie, he was devastated. He ‘slept in the garage’ and ‘broke all the goddam windows’.

The conflict which is central theme of The Catcher in the Rye is the conflict of expectancy of the society and the suppressed inner space in the period of conformity, somehow bordering with madness rooted in the feeling of inability to preserve idealistic visions. As it was noted The Catcher in the Rye can be counted as the new representative of novels dealing with adolescence. Initiation as the process is, “the process leading through right action and consecrated knowledge, to a viable mode of life in the word ending with confirmation.” (Hassan 35) This confirmation is well-visible as well at the end of the book where Holden is facing ascertainment that he is not able to preserve all the children from losing their innocence, but mainly that he is not able to help himself and finally has

To not seem “phony”, a recurring word in the novel, J.D. Salinger utilizes repetitive dialogue for the main character Holden Caulfield, to show how desperately Holden doesn’t want to seem insincere and fake. He believes that of all of his prep schools he has been too were all “full of phonies” (Catcher in the rye, page 2). They are were trying to appear better than they were, because that is what they grew up seeing society around them doing.

Extended essay: Narrative and voice in The Catcher in the Rye One of the primary elements that shape a reader’s initial impression of a text is its narrative. Such a role is inflated in texts which are character-driven, as is with J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. This essay examines the unorthodox voice of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, specifically, how its stylistic features create incoherence and unreliability. The Catcher in the Rye is a first-person narrative told from Holden’s point of view.

In the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol’s quest for self was at first impacted by his desire to blend in with American culture, however, when his father dies he begins to grow closer with his family and his journey is

Through the experience to maintain identity, their thoughts were changed, and both of them become optimistic. At the end of the story of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden allows to go to the new school and decides to apply the school. Before he spends time in New York and goes back to his home, he did not think he wants to go to school because he considered all people around him as “phonies,” and he was not so interested in studying. That is also one of the reasons that he was kicked out from the school four times. In addition, when Mr. Antolini who was his English teacher teaches Holden the importance of getting academic experience by going to the school, Holden did not pay so much attention to what Mr. Antolini says.

Maturation is the journey from childhood to adulthood, where time represents everyone’s unavoidable passageway to adulthood. An awakening in life can help one become aware of the world around him. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, traces the process of maturation through the protagonist Holden Caulfield. Firstly, Holden commits many wrong doings and hurts others through his actions. Secondly, he encounters pain and anguish and thirdly, he is healed.

Since the displays at the museum never change, being surrounded by the exhibits made Holden feel like he fit in. It was like being in his own world. Not having to change would mean Holden wouldn’t need to worry about moving from childhood to adulthood, and neither would he need to deal with the phoniness of the adult world. Holden deals with a lot of phoniness throughout the novel. The way old Spencer embarrasses Holden and reads his essay out loud is an example of how Holden encounters phoniness (pg 11).

In the Catcher of the Rye, another symbol is the museum of Natural History. The displays in the museum appeal to Holden because they never changed. The museum represents the world Holden wishes he could live in. A world as a “catcher of the rye” where everything stays the same. Holden wishes he could put parts of his life into the exhibits at the museum so they wouldn't change.

This is because Holden is still very innocent, and he wants to hold on to the thought of Allie or a younger figure still being with him.(p 119) Holden wants 's Phoebe to stay the same age as she is now (much like that animals and people in the glass cases at the museum)so she will not grow up as fast as Holden did and he wants to protect her

In this quote he talks about how he enjoys going to the museum for this very reason “Boy, that museum was full of glass cases …. The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody 'd move.” (Salinger 65) He loved things the way they were and he hated change, he hated that he had to grow up and have responsibilities.

It is in the human nature to be influenced by someone or something else. We see it when we are kids by our parents and as we grow up to be influenced by our peers. In the essay “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli” by Adam Gopnik, he becomes intrigued by his daughter 's peculiar imaginary friend and looks more into why is it that his daughter 's imaginary friend doesn’t play with her because he is always busy. Similarly in the essay, “On Habit” by Alain de Botton, he finds himself lost in the city of London after he comes back from Barbados but, when he learns about De Maistre and his theory of the traveling mindset he finds himself out of that depression and learns to look at London with a new perspective. Also, Gopnik seemed to form his own

Have you ever felt isolation? Like you didn’t belong somewhere and you were trying to find your place? In the novel The Catcher In The Rye Holden by J.D SALINGER Caufield struggled with this and as we go through the novel it explains step by step why he struggles to simply talk to other people. The story is about how this confused young boy doesn’t want to grow up due to the responsibilities as an adult, he just desires to be this fantasy he has always desired to be which is to help children remain their innocence and stop them from doing things that will make them develop into adults because then the children will remain happy forever with nothing to worry about.

The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood exists as a complex path, which often uncovers questions that cannot be answered. J.D. Salinger explores Holden’s transition into adult life and how he copes with modern society’s cruel and unforgiving face. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s traumatic experiences directly explains his immaturity and unhealthy obsession over the preservation of the fragile childhood state; although some instances highlighting Holden’s maturity may suggest otherwise, flashes of these instances do not outweigh his immature ideology and opinions. Holden’s dysfunctional family life stemming from the death of his brother Allie and his inferiority complex clearly explains Holden’s unhealthy obsession