Catcher in the Rye

A detailed Summary of Catcher in the Rye

In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield expresses his cynical views. His opinions are almost always negative, and he often makes harsh judgments and generalizations. Although Holden is normally reluctant to reach out to people and maintain relationships, he dreams of protecting those who are still innocent from the "phonies" that inhabit the world. Holden longs to be the catcher in the rye so he can devote his life to saving children. It is not until Holden has reached the nadir of his illness that he becomes aware of the impossibility of his dream. While at the carrousel, Holden makes this realization and feels happy, beginning the process of recovering from his illness.

Holden does not care about much in life. He looks upon the world as a horrible place filled with phony people, in which he is unmotivated to do anything. Although he cares for very few people, he has strong feelings about the innocent children in the world. He tries to shelter them from evil and protect their innocence. He admires children and has trouble disapproving of anything they do: "You take adults, they look lousy when they're asleep and they have their mouths way open, but kids don't. Kids look all right. They can even have spit all

over the pillow and they still look all right" (159). Among the children that Holden cares for are his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Allie. Holden describes Phoebe as "a little kid so pretty and so smart" (67). Holden's desire to protect the innocent is not only seen when he tries to shelter children, but also with the ducks he visits at the park. He expresses his concern for the ducks to his cab driver, "Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?" (81). His concern for the well being of these ducks mirrors his concern for children. He wants to shield the ducks from the cold, similar to how he wants to protect the children from the "phonies" that surround them.

Children are among the few things that make him happy. After Holden helps a little girl tie her skates, he comments, "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" (119). Holden values the honesty in children. He is aware of the possibility of their innocence being robbed, and he does everything he can to prevent it. When Holden notices that someone has written the words "Fuck you" in Phoebe's school, his depression worsens. His anger and frustration is seen when he says, "I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written "Fuck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how'd they wonder what the hell it meant" (201) Holden's initial is fear that the innocent would be exposed to such horrible words, so he tries to rub off the graffiti. If the children did not remain youthful and honest, Holden would have no one in the world to idolize. He cannot relate to adults, and he finds that there is something that bothers him about everyone that he meets. Although Holden has no plans for his future or his education, he does dream of being the catcher in the rye.

All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids, if they want to grab for the gold ring,

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1449
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels