holden caulfield
Holden Caulfield, the narrator and the main character of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is a young adult, who, at first seems to simply describes his four day adventure in New York City after bring expelled from his forth school. However, at the same time he narrates more; through his many experiences, which he describes in the book, we can see the themes of the work. The theme that definitely stands out is the loss of innocence. Holden portrays himself as an individual, who does not want to grow up and change. From the beginning, it is obvious that Holden does not like anyone, except children. To Holden, the world around him, the adult world and all of its members, is phony. In other words, the innocent world of children is the only world that appeals to Holden. However, in the end thereader also gets to see Holden's change and eventual surrender to the adult world. The Catcher in the Rye is simply about Holden's futile resistance to growing up and his surrender. Holden's attempts to refuse maturing are seen through his failures in education, his attitude towards the adult world, and his caring for only children, but his sudden fall into maturity shows there is no escape from growing up.
As the result, his actions lead us to believe that he is scared of growing up and becoming phony like the rest of the world around him. Holden is scared of education because it is part of maturing, which then makes him a part of the world of phonies, which he is trying so hard to avoid. We can then easily figure out that the reason why Holden admires Allie so much is because his brother never lost his innocence, but died a child. That is also the reason he loves his sister so much, because she is also a child. Holden, although never admitting to it, wishes he could be like Allie and Phoebe, or any child for that matter. Holden not only wants to remain a child himself, but also wants to prevent others from growing up, which would explain his love for the museum and his wanting to become a "catcher in the rye." Holden loved the museum because it did not change, which is very important to Holden since he is giving his all to prevent change. Holden's desire to become a catcher in the rye is key to his idea of remaining a child and preventing other youth from falling into the world of phonies. Holden just simply wants to "catch [the children]" (173) so to prevent their fall, perhaps because he wants somebody to do the same for him, but as we discover shortly there is no catching him and that he himself is falling into adulthood. and the way he describes his experiences clearly show his refusal to grow up. The first sign of Holden's refusal to leave the childhood world behind is his constant failures in school. Holden has been kicked out of several schools already, from each one within a short period of time, and in the beginni
Some common words found in the essay are:
Allie Phoebe, Catcher Rye, Phoebe Holden, York City, JD Salinger, catcher rye, Holden Caulfield, adult world, world phonies, sister phoebe, holden admires, matter holden, throughout book,
Approximate Word count = 1107
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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