... exposed to sex, deceit, and the phoniness of being fake. One of the most important passages in the novel comes when Holden tells Phoebe that he would like to be the catcher in the rye. When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life, Holden responds with his image that reveals his fantasy of idealistic childhood and of his role as the protector of innocence. Holden tells Phoebe, "I keep ... picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over ... never got mad at anybody." (p.5...

• Word Count: 925
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... a dirty moron, I said. You're a stupid chiseling moron, and in about two years you'll be one of those scraggy guys that come up to you on the street and ask for a dime for coffee- (103). Maurice is a bully, having fallen of a cliff at an early age with many other phony adult symptoms. When discussing Stradlater, his roommate, he makes sure to include that ... doesn't want his sister to become threatened by the society. The title is a significant part of the book. It tells you what the book is about. The title "The Catcher in the Rye- clearly connects to the Holden's view of innocence. H...

• Word Count: 1770
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... school next year. In contrast to the previous years, Holden plans to apply himself. Throughout the novel, there were a number of themes demonstrated. The major theme is portrayed through the feelings of vulnerability Holden feels after losing his younger brother Allie. When a sibling dies, the surviving child is forced to deal with the reality of death at a very young age with the realization that it could happen to ... makes him " feel better. not so depressed " (Salinger 150), like the time he saw a boy walking down the street singing and humming. For Holden, children are a way of esca...

• Word Count: 2498
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... , in compilation with the loss of innocence shown very evidently. For example, Holden erases a sign on the stairs that says "#&@$ You". Holden witnessing that was very depressing to him because not only was there that one, but more and more and more that he located around the museum as well, these remarks that he finds symbolize to Holden that even kids Phoebe's age, are in risk ... of seeing this and losing ... their vital innocence that they have. Allie dying is very significant to Holden's life as a whole. His life was perfect, his ... ...

• Word Count: 772
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... with a childhood fable in which the catcher catches children from falling off the cliff. Since the rye in the field is so high, the children cannot see over it. This elucidates the novel's metaphoric title, as the children cannot see beyond the boundaries of childhood and out of innocence. "Standing on the precipice that separates the rye field of childhood from the cliff of adulthood, Holden wants to protect childhood innocence from the fall into disillusionment that necessarily ... attitude is reminiscent of the attitude expressed by T.S. Eliot in the Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock. H...

• Word Count: 1079
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Salinger wanted to capture the identity crises which many young adults of Holden's age are caught in. he focuses on the character development. Holden narrates its own story from a psychiatric facility a few month after it. The story cover a time period of about three days which are greatly important as they relate the passage from his youth into maturity. Though his innocence has already been lost ... , he still hopes to protect others children from knowing about adult subjects. Throughout the ... it's crazy (Salinger,156). Holden wants to catch children before they fall out of innocenc...

• Word Count: 1843
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... a tragic-comedy. I came to choose it because I heard it is about a boy who is around my age. In this book, the main character, Holden Caulfield, tells us a story about what happened during his Christmas vacation. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy who has flunked out of a private prep school. Because he is afraid that his parents would find out this fact, he goes ... rejoin his family and because he realizes there are many things that he cannot solve by himself. The theme of this novel is how innocence is corrupted by society. Holden thinks everybody who is grown up is a phony because the...

• Word Count: 859
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... did write one novel, which brought him fame. In many of Salinger's short stories and especially his most well-known novel he writes about how the main character falls from his or her own innocence then rises to face their challenges. In J.D. Salinger's , Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through a fall from his innocence throughout his journey to his safe haven, home. One example ... of when Holden fell from his own innocence is when he is in the room with Phoebe and he can ... so pretty and smart in your whole life." Chirs Main The Catcher in the Rye is about a man named Holde...

• Word Count: 1454
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... faces a self-identity struggle and is uncertain of his beliefs. Salinger portrays the difficulties that go along with the "coming of age" through Holden Caulfield's point of view. In The Catcher and the Rye, J.D. Salinger expresses through Holden Caulfield's first person point of view on how a teenager struggles with the rules of society, growing up, and forgetting about the past. Holden's background history is the leading cause of his struggles to find a pathway to ... to everyone else. Holden feels guilty for letting Allie die and having his youth stripped away from him. The reader ca...

• Word Count: 930
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... kills you," (80). Here, it can be seen by Holden's words that there is something about the way young people are that "kills him". It is almost as if Holden wants to protect Jane's innocence, because it is where he feels the most comfortable with her. It is clear that Holden's relationship with Jane as a child was completely secure. However ... situation. This also reveals how Holden is not only bad at making connections with people his age, but with adults as well, as he admits, "I'm not crazy about talking to girls' mothers on the phone,". Holden clearly has attachment avoidance with t...

• Word Count: 1900
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... , but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." This not only makes you feel like he is talking to you, but also gives you a feel for Haden's language, age, and attitude. Salinger leaves you wondering if maybe some occurrences within the story are personal memories that occurred throughout his childhood. Salinger quoted a passage from Dostoevski, " Fathers and ... teachers, I ponder "What is Hell?" I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love." This quote says it all when it comes ... Burns was actually about meeting a girl and if he should kiss her...

• Word Count: 628
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... references in the novel. In fact, most of Holden's fondest memories are of those times with his younger siblings. His comments of innocence help establish this connection. Someone who is trying to learn the stages of developing into a mature adult would not develop as soon, or as fully when spending their time solely with those who are five to seven years of age. They would not experience the guidance from ... older adults to correct wrong behavior. The guidance of an elder isn't present and ... ...

• Word Count: 1393
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... anybody, but he still does because his ego cannot separate the urges from the id and the expectations from the superego. Those are a few of the main reasons I feel that his id controls the ego instead of the correct way of the ego controlling the id. I feel that Holden has a lot of anxiety because he is afraid to grow up. His nature of anxiety is he tries to avoid anything that makes him feel ... crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff"(173). The cliff symbolizes the fall from childhood into adulthood. Holden wants to be the person wh...

• Word Count: 1784
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... to have a conversation with her, but she does not converse back with him. Holden faces the new demon of rejection, which only makes Holden feel more alienated from the rest of the world. At the bar, Holden also faces physical obstacles. Holden is unable to buy any liquor because of his age. This frustrates him and only seems to make him angrier. This experience helps lead to Holden ... 's down spiral in a variety of ways. Holden begins to have the feeling of not being wanted. This depresses Holden greatly. It ... actually able to open up to Phoebe. Even though Phoebe did not understand ...

• Word Count: 2903
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... increasingly tormented by the memory of his younger brother Allie's death, and his life is complicated by his sexuality. He wants to see his sister Phoebe and his old girlfriend Jan Gallagher, but instead he spends his time with Sally Hayes, a shallow person Holden's age, and Carl Luce, a pretentious Columbia student Holden treats as a source of sexual knowledge. ... unbearably painful; his cynicism is his attempt to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. As the novel opens, Holden stands poised on the cliff separating childhood from adulthood; his damaged i...

• Word Count: 1065
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... is nothing usual for boys that age. A good number of high school aged boys act like they are still in junior high. It is not something to judge sanity on. If that was the case, almost half of the high school male population would be put in a mental institution. Holden wants to be the protector of the innocence. He does not want to see the young grow up in a phonie ... world to become phonies with jobs they do not like for a salary that is not reasonable. Holden complains throughout the whole book. So what? He has something to complain about. Some people just have to complain ... about ...

• Word Count: 901
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... character is Holden Caulfield. He is a teen- age boy who goes through some major changes. His life is taken over by isolation and depression. This is all caused by his attitude towards others, his failure to accept the world around him and his various obsessions with sex and alcohol. Holden is not able to ... everyday society. He keeps failing at everything he attempts. Part of his problem is that he was deeply affected by the death of his brother Allie. He really misses him and this leads him to not want to face the adult world, but to go back to the innocence of his childhood. His pro...

• Word Count: 811
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... a new place is constantly recurring. On the surface this may show his fear of growing up and "facing facts"and his hope of retaining innocence. Although this is a valid interpretation, it seems that, more than running away from his childhood, Holden is caught in a muddled search for the experiences of an adult while still holding onto his memories of adolescence and the concept that are fixed in his ... but to a smaller degree. There is of course the physical protection of the hat during this scene, not that much, and Holden admits that it, "gave (him) quite a lot of protection, in a wa...

• Word Count: 1227
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... and pressures of the adult-world, and he preferred the simplicity and honesty of childhood. Although Holden grew up physically after his brother passed, his emotional growth was somewhat stunted. He did seem to have any friends or to socialize well with people his own age. Allie's death contributed to Holden's cynical views on life. Holden loved Allie because he was so pure and innocent ... . When Allie passed on, it seems that Holden never had the ... though Holden had bad judgment, he was basically a good person. Throughout the book, he accepted people for who they were and did not ma...

• Word Count: 930
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his idealism is caught between childhood and the adult world. He has the very mature side of liking honesty and disliking lying and things which are fake or put on just for a show. But he is also quite childish thinking things like he can be "The Catcher in the rye", protect all the kids, in this case their childhood innocence. This made it very hard for him ... to fit in anywhere, even with peers his own age. This ... is made worse because Holden as a character really likes attention, therefore leading Holden to desperately trying to find attention or just someone to have a conversati...

• Word Count: 565
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... is, she's a little too affectionate sometimes. She very emotional, for a child" (Salinger 68) Salinger shows all children as innocent and not hesitant in showing their real feelings. They haven't reached the age in which they want to change their appearance and uniqueness to try to be like others. "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing a game in this big field ... non-conformist attitudes and does not want to change them and therefore wants to protect their innocence. One of Emerson's main themes in Self-Reliance is that conformity destroys the individual and his/her di...

• Word Count: 955
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... change that we all make in our lives is the time we reach puberty, when we abandon our childish innocence and open our minds and bodies to knowledge of the world and each other. We learn that there are shades of gray. We realize that living is not easy; survival of the fittest comes into practice. We clash with the older generation who has so many expectations, who ... because his experiences taught him something about the necessity of loving- Streisand has struck the bull on the head saying this, because Holden loves what he hates, and that in itself is a very powerful thing. Deep down...

• Word Count: 1125
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Pai to loose her innocence and see that her Grandfather virtually hates her and has always shown remorse towards her ever since she was born. However, just as Holden sought to fix his problems, Pai remains headstrong and continues to advocate for herself and rebel against the tradition of her tribe. On the other hand, while Pai and Holden's coming of age lead them to be ... vague way, even as early as six or seven. And it's curious, when we were older and the guardians were giving us those talks, nothing came as a complete surprise. It was like we'd heard everything somewhere before" (7...

• Word Count: 3123
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... but somehow we find our way back up. J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, portrays the life of a teenager, Holden Caulfield, and the conflicts he has to face. Holden Caulfield is struggling between childhood and adulthood. He often finds himself fighting the biological clock, which will eventually result in old age and death. He acts like a child in order to stay away ... from adulthood. His childish character also gives him the "romantic" mind which is blocking him from the realism in the society he lives in. The two most dominating conflicts for Holden are innocence and expe...

• Word Count: 2258
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... brother's harsh words, so Holden took her to the zoo to pacify her. He then saw the carousel was open and convinced Phoebe to take a ride. Holden sat down, watching Phoebe going around and around; he began to cry. He cried because he saw his innocence, his innocence in Phoebe. He wanted to have that type of innocence back again, but he can't; Holden lost it ... a long time ago. Since Allie's death, Holden's life changed. Experiencing such an agonizing loss like that at such an early age isn't healthy for a kid, especially during his developmental stage. The closest person to Holden was ...

• Word Count: 1287
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School