catcher int he rye
In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield's innocence is taken away through a twisted chain of events. The novel opens up with Holden depresses after fluking out of Penecy, the suicide of a classmate, and the death of his brother, Allie. Because if these tragic events, Holden tries to preserve his innocence and the purity of the children around him. Holden wants to "catch" all of the naive children who are falling off the cliff into adulthood. As a result of Holden coming across his sister Phoebe and the "fuck you" on the wall of the school, Holden's dreams of becoming the catcher in the rye disappear. He finally realizes that all children must fall into adulthood, just as he has. While walking through the bust streets of New York, Holden notices a lighthearted little boy who is walking and humming "if a body catch a body coming through the rye" (43). Holden finds it humorous that the child can hum so nonchalantly as the cars on the bust street honk at him. Despite the fast-moving cars, which represent the average "
Holden's dreams of becoming the catcher in the rye disappear. Through situations with his sister Phoebe and the "fuck you" on the wall of the school Holden comes to the realization that he cannot stop children from maturing. Holden's attitude completely changes as he watches Phoebe spin on the carousel. Holden says: The thing with kids is, of they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad to say anything to them. (211) I kept picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I am 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. I mean if they're running and they don't look they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. (173)
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Approximate Word count = 702
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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