Catcher in the Rye
Children: spirited, loveable, cute, and something that a society could not live without. But when ones life is so rotated around children like JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye character, Holden, one loses all conscious and can only find happiness when with children or thinking about them. Holden can only find genuine love in children, for they have not learned the dreadful prerequisite of life, "phonieness." He hates the artificiality that adults eventually acquire because all his good memories remain in his youth and his life with young children his age. This characteristic of Holden is shown throughout the book, particularly with his love for Phoebe, his helping the innocent children who are unable to help themselves, and his love for Jane at their age of serenity and ignorance!Holden shows his love for Phoebe by continuously thinking about her and requiring for her company. The only gift we have ever seen given by Holden was his record purchase for Phoebe. "Besides, I wanted to find a record store that was open on Sunday. There was this record I wanted to get for Phoebe, called 'Little Shirely Beans.' It was a very hard record to get (114)." This is one example of Holden's thought and love for
Holden, like everyone else, will grow out of these requirements and he will become phony and lose the characteristics of a child in his own way and in a sense he has formed into a phony, because his new goals now are to apply himself in school, something he saw pointless and a waste of time, instead of enjoying the beauty of life and the wisdom that comes with it. But what separates Holden from the rest is that he bloomed late, and this late bloom made him realize how sick the world is, he was able to comprehend everything yet still unable to comply to it like a rebel. He didn't want to be phony but he had too, that is why he needed to go to a rest home in California. Truly his intentions are pure and appropriate, everyone in society should be going to the rest home except him and children. But his molding to society is required. But that is what ties him to children, just like the entertainers of today, like today's clowns and children comedians, these people still have Holden's characteristics, they struggle the same way Holden did, they don't want to mold, they want to love with sincerity! "She thanked me and all when I had it tightened for her. She was a very nice, polite little kid. God, I love it when a kid's nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most kids are. They really are. I asked her of she'd care to have a hot chocolate or something with me, but she said no, thank you. She said she had to meet her friends. Kids always have to meet their friend. That kills me. (119)" Again he proves his love for children by helping an innocent girl that is unable to help herself. For any other adult he would have never offered to help. When he searches for his sister at the park, he meets up with some children and he has a brief conversation with them. However, his discussion with a certain child represents truly a discussion that Holden would have enjoyed with an adult his age. The child is straightforward and to the point and doesn't act "phony" at all. This description of Holden with the girl is interesting since it brings up two things, first she doesn't want to drink with him, almost all adults we have me
Some common words found in the essay are:
Anyway DB's, Catcher Rye, California Truly, Shirely Beans', Love Children, Phoebe Besides, love phoebe, love children, 'how you're home, you're home wednesday', unable help, home wednesday', didn't goddam, rest home, holden probably, example love, helping innocent, 'how you're,
Approximate Word count = 1465
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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