Holden Caufield Essay Example For Students

Holden Caufield Essay In JD Salingers Catcher in the Rye, a troubled teenager named Holden Caufield struggles with the factthat everyone has to grow up. The book gets its title from Holdens constant concern with the loss ofinnocence. He did not want children to grow up because he felt that adults are corrupt. This is seen whenHolden tries to erase naughty words from the walls of an elementary school where his younger sisterPhoebe attended. While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebodyd writtenFuck you on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kidswould see it, and how theyd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tellthem- all cockeyed, naturally- what it meant, and how theyd all think about it and maybe even worryabout it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoeverd written it. I figured it was some pervertybum thatd sneaked in the school late at night to take a leak or something and then wrote i t on thewall. I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how Id smash his head on the stone steps till hewas good and goddam dead and bloody. (201) His deep concern with impeccability caused him to createstereotypes of a hooligan that would try to corrupt the children of an elementary school. Holden believedthat children were innocent because they viewed the world and society without any bias. When Phoebeasked him to name something that he would like to be when he grew up, the only thing he would haveliked to be was a catcher in the rye. He invented an illusion for himself of a strange fantasy. He statedthat he would like to follow a poem by Robert Burns: If a body catch a body comin through the rye. Hekept picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of littlekids, and nobodys around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And Im standing on the edge of somecrazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go ov er the cliff- I mean iftheyre running and they dont look where theyre going I have to come out from somewhere and catchthem. That?|s all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats theonly thing Id really like to be. (173) Holden wants to stop children from falling into losing theirinnocence and becoming an adult, and he takes pleasure in the attempted thwarting of maturation. In the beginning of Catcher in the Rye, his initial character is one of a child. Throughout the book, hetakes steps and the forces of change take a toll on his childish ways. In the end, he seems to bechanged into a man. Holden is definitely extremely immature in the beginning of the book. Hecharacterizes almost every person he meets as a phony. He feels that he is surrounded by hypocritesin a school filled with fakery. Principal Thurmer, the principal of Holdens high school, Pencey, was theleader of the whole charade. During a teacher/parent day, Principal Thurmer wou ld only say hello to thewealthy parents of students. He would not associate himself with those that were not financially stable,because he was a phony. We will write a custom essay on Holden Caufield specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Holden also maintains a lack of responsibility throughout the whole book. He was the equipmentmanager of the fencing team at Pencey, but he lost the equipment on the subway. He also failed out oftwo schools for lack of effort and absences from classes. Holden also had a daydream about twochildren who never grew up, whore main in a perfect world forever. This daydream is a result of hisyounger brother Allies death. Allie represents the unchangeable youth of which Holden must let go if heever expects to maintain sanity. Holden has a fixation on childhood, which shows itself in many forms. .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .postImageUrl , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:hover , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:visited , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:active { border:0!important; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:active , .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud226c27c98afde3f559311741e6a619d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Essence of Pop Culture EssayHis glorification of children, inordinate admiration of Phoebe, idealization of his dead younger brother,and the joy he gets from reminiscing about his own childhood all contribute to his obsession withinnocence and youth. Throughout the middle of the book, forces of change unfold on Holden. While waiting for an old friendof his, he had the sudden urge to go into a museum that he had visited while still a child in school inorder to bring back memories of his childhood. However, when he finally reached the museum, hedecided not to. Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldnthave gone inside for a million b ucks. It just didnt appeal to me (122) This shows that Holden isbecoming an adult. He did not want to enter the museum because he realized that he was too old totake part in such an activity. When he takes Phoebe to a carousel later in the book, he decided not toride on it, or even stand on it during a rain storm, because he felt too old to get on. Holden also hadanother one of his childish fantasies for his future. He wanted to go and be a deaf mute somewhere inthe west, so he wouldnt have to deal with all the phonies and hypocrites of every day life. Phoebe toldhim that she wanted to go along with him, but he denies her of this because of his growing responsibilityand metamorphosis as an adult. He told her, Im not going away anywhere. I changed my mind. (207)At the end of the book, Holden seems to be much more mature. His key step was when he did not ridewith Phoebe on the carrousel. Holden only watched his sister ride along. In the center of the carousel,there was a gold ring. Th e children riding on the carousel would reach for the gold ring in order to win aprize. All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraidshed fall off the goddam horse, but I didnt say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if theywant to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they falloff, but its bad if you say anything to them.(211) This carousel symbolizes life, and the constantjourney of childhood into adulthood. Children would sometimes fall when striving to reach the gold ringin the center of life, or their complete success or adulthood. Holden would have yelled out to the childrenthat it was dangerous to try to achieve this goal, but he realized in this anagnoresis that the childrenshould go along the path of life by themselves. Throughout the book, Holden tried to save all children from growing up and losing their innocence. When he realized that he could not achieve this goal, he had a nervous breakdown and could not dealwith it. However, it is an inevitable fact that everyone has to grow up. BibliographyCatcher in the RyeBy J.D Salinger