... out west" (Salinger 200) with him and grow up prematurely. The motif of "the catcher in the rye" follows Holden on his quest, showing the reader his understanding of his own innocence and the protection of others innocence. This motif and the first explanation of Holden's relationship with innocence is introduced by a small boy singing a ... the corruption of adulthood. At the conclusion of the novel, Holden realizes the true nature of innocence while watching Phoebe reach for the golden ring on the carousel. Walking down the streets of New York on a cold miserable day, Holden and the re...

• Word Count: 987
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... he would have liked to be was a catcher in the rye. He invented an illusion for himself of a strange fantasy. He stated that he would like to follow a poem by Robert Burns: If a body catch a body coming' through the rye. He kept picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big ... I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. Holden wants to stop children from falling into losing their innocence and becoming an adult, and he takes...

• Word Count: 1291
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , he has found a new role in keeping the innocence of other children protected. If he cannot protect himself he will protect the others. Both the "catcher" and the "deaf-mute" are there for a single desire: a wish to escape from an adult world in which he feels hat he can not belong. He seems himself as "the catcher in the rye", the only adult in a world of children: Anyway, I keep picturing all these ... little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean except me. And I"m standing on the edge of some crazy cl...

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

... . And we ultimately begin our primeval search for love, beautiful love, to be swept away forever, love that defies all disappointments that fill every day of our lives. J.D. Salinger strongly and sharply reveals all these truths and more in his book, "The Catcher In The Rye", some of which we are going to discuss and draw our own conclusion from. " Holden is giving up his dream ... of escape, compromising with life: accepting less than the finely-hones standards he had set himself, and joining the rest of society. He betrays himself- Keast remarks in her 1987 review "Structure of the Cat...

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