The Catcher in the Rye Final Assessment

In J.D.Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, the main character of the novel, is a walking paradox who desires to hold onto his innocence and ,in his mind, thinks that people who lose their innocence will either turn into a “phony” or a “jerk”. During his journey towards trying to preserve his innocence Holden affected his desire to hold on to his innocence through his action, such as his experience with a prostitute named Sunny, his interaction with Sunny shows him that most of the world of adults is just an illusion. Another person who affects Holden desire is his 10 year-old sister Phoebe Caulfield, his interaction with his sister phoebe shows how it’s ok to lose your innocence because with the loss of that innocence you

In order to reach this last phase, Holden needs to come to terms with the loss of his brother. As the book progresses, he uses Allie as his anchor to reality. This is shown when Holden repeatedly mumbles, “Allie, don't let me disappear” (198) while crossing the streets. This connection only dies after Holden talks to Phoebe during her lunch break. Because of her insisting that she come with him, he realizes that his ideas of fleeing home are absurd and will never work, finalizing his decision of staying in New York. These events represent Holden’s transition in letting go, but the true moment that symbolizes the end of his journey of grief is when he is watching Phoebe ride the carousel. "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off" (211). Not only is Holden’s realizing that he is unable to save every single person, but also that he himself will have rough times. These obstacles are unavoidable and are a natural part throughout the path of grieving.

We first hear of his thought on what this poem means when he is conversing with his kin Phoebe. Phoebe states that Holden Does not like anything, which seems to be so far in this story. The only thing he can think of is Allie, his dead brother,

“I swear to God I’m a madman” (149) Holden Caulfield says, revealing the wicked nature of J.D Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. The book follows 16 year old Holden Caulfield in his days spent alone on the streets of New York City after getting kicked out of prep school. During this time Holden goes on an alcoholic rampage, fueled by hate and filled with anger towards anything he sees as phony. The book has been the cause of major controversy since its release, with schools across the country banning it from the realms of teaching for decades. Now, it is read in many high school literature classes because of its alleged similarity to the way teenagers think. The Catcher in the Rye should not be taught to young, impressionable teenagers in public schools because of its rampant profanity, glorification of alcohol and tobacco use, and narration by a mentally ill, generally horrible person.

As Holden encounters many obstacles and difficulties during his coming of age experience, he fails to overcome them and seems to be headed towards “ some kind of terrible, terrible fall” (Salinger 186). He buys a Little Shirley Beans record with Phoebe in mind and then heads to yet another bar and starts drinking heavily and eventually gets really drunk. Resultantly, as he heads out the bar late at night, he stumbles and “ then something terrible happened just as I got in the park. I dropped old Phoebe’s record. It broke into about fifty pieces. It was in a big envelope and all, but it broke anyway. I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket” (Salinger 154). One can view this event as a form of representing Holden’s deteriorating character or how he is breaking apart. In his life, he’s continuously trying to pick up the pieces and get himself together similar to the broken record. However, no matter how careful or fragile he was with the record, he managed to break it, like the way he tends to mess up so frequently in his life. Also, the manner in which he decided to simply keep the broken pieces symbolizes the way he settles for his troublesome state of mind and does not reach out for help. In addition, as this record is also intended to be a reminder of Phoebe’s innocence and trying to maintain it, it is clear that Holden seems more preoccupied preserving childhood innocence than focusing on the instability of his own life.

“You'll have to jump.' 'I'll jump.' 'Jump!' Major Danby cried. Yossarian jumped. Nately's whore was hiding just outside the door. The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off” (Heller 350). Yossarian ends his dialogue in a cheery and fun way because he is finally going to be free from the oppression of the US military. This also shows his increased morals, because in the beginning, he would have just killed the girl for trying to kill him. He also uses arrangement to show America at the time like, “ Heller's satirical masterpiece tells us something about the madness of America” (Pilger, John). This shows how the novel portrays the insanity of the war at this time and how these people need help or to get out. The main part of the novel is just the insane adventures Yossarian goes on throughout his horrifying experience.

Before this scene, Holden had sent Phoebe a note telling her to meet him at the Museum of Natural History, as he needed to see her before he left to go out West. Upon realizing that she was late, he states, “I began to get scared that maybe that old lady in the school had told that other lady not to give old Phoebe my message. I began to get scared that maybe she’d told her to burn it or something. It really scared the hell out of me. I really wanted to see old Phoebe before I hit the road.

First, Phoebe acts as a confidante for Holden by showing the reader Holden’s true emotions and thoughts. Phoebe reveals his moods of happiness and depression and why he feels the way he does. When Phoebe is on the carousel, Holden “felt so damn happy all of sudden[because] the way old Phoebe kept going around and around.[Holden]was damn near bawling, [He] felt so damn

Between laser dogfights in space and apocalyptic car chases across the desert, it seems unlikely that the story of a mundane and particularly uninteresting week in New York has any relevance to our culture. It seems even more improbable that it can turn a teenager that hates everyone into the sympathetic and relatable character of a literary classic, but J.D. Salinger gets away with this in his novel “The Catcher of the Rye”. The protagonist and narrator, Holden Caulfield, is characterized by his sympathetic nature, whether it be towards his sister Phoebe, his late brother, Allie or his acquaintance, Ackley. Holden uses his sensitivity and insightfulness to cope with his transition into adulthood by Firstly, Holden demonstrates a lot of affection towards his sister, Phoebe. Of all the plain and simple characters in the story, Phoebe stands out as she is the one that Holden cares the most for.

You don't like a million things. You don't."(Page 169) This is a blow to Holden’s thought process, he doesn't understand why Phoebe doesn't appreciate his over protectiveness. By wanting to save others from the cruel world Holden was saving himself, and did so with the help of Phoebe. Holden experiences an epitome of emotions while watching Phoebe go around on the carousel, as explained in the very end of the novel. The carousel is a clear metaphor for the interconnectedness of humanity; we see ourselves reflected in those around us. Holden notices that although phoebe is losing her innocence his love for her isn't tainted, and regardless of how many times he scrubs the word fuck off of the walls “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another "Fuck you" on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn't come off. It's hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world. It's impossible.” (25.18) in his attempt to shelter her from the corruption around her, he can't stop her from growing up and he can't stop society from tainting her purity. Holden just didn't want society to take away from how Phoebe saw the world, he didn't want it to effect her unique outlook on life and people. Holden was traumatized by Allie's death although he had time to anticipate his death, Allie’s demise took period over an

Holden is torn between two stages of growth: one side of him is still a child subconsciously attempting to hold on to the feeling of comfort childhood has, and the other side wishes to be grown and independent. Holden never truly had a proper segue into adolescence, as his maturity was marred by the sudden death of his brother. He still somewhat clings to the remainder of his childlike virtue, causing an imbalance as during the journey to adulthood a person must shed their innocence. But the difficulty does not stop there: Holden’s impossibly high standards make it difficult for anyone to grow close to him. He desires human companionship, but the only person he can remotely stand to be around without getting increasingly irritated is his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe. Holden’s longing for intimacy is restrained by the ghosts of his innocence, and the internal conflict between the two eventually leads to his downward mental

Later on in the novel when Holden meets the prostitute, he thinks “I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing.” It is believed that Holden was upset that she was living that life and that she lost the innocence of childhood along the way and was possibly forced into that kind of adulthood. Holden’s actions show readers who he is and how deeply he feels about the difference in childhood and adulthood. When Holden Caulfield visits his sister, Phoebe, they discuss a song and Holden’s misinterpretation that turns out to be “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye”.

When he realizes that no one he meets truly cares about him, he starts to walk down the blocks of New York City begging Allie to keep him from disappearing; this “feeling of disappearance while passing the street implies his fear of dissolving in the mad society” (Dashti and Bahar) with no one to save him from this fate. However, he actually ends up being restored by the essence of purity that he strives to preserve: a child. Phoebe actually listens to his problems (unlike the rest of society) and keeps her childish nature intact as seen as she rides the carousel and reaches for the golden bell, showing that she is not afraid to dream. Because of her, Holden feels truly happy for the first time in the entire novel. Although Holden’s depression is still prevalent by the end of the novel, it is clear that he has successfully influenced Phoebe to keep her innocence against all societal odds and, in return, she has saved him.

Holden says,” You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you. If you take her to a lousy movie, for instance, she knows it's a lousy movie. If you take her to a pretty good movie, she knows it's a pretty good movie”. Holden considered his little sister smart, even though she was so young. At ten years old, skinny Phoebe was one of the few people Holden felt a connection with. Holden basically tried to find Allie in Phoebe and thus tried to protect and love her in every way possible. Holden’s obsession with Phoebe is an example of his isolation and extreme loneliness. The one person he wanted to connect with on several occasions was much younger, and was out of reach. Regarding Phoebe as a living copy of all that he loved in Allie, he was comforted by Phoebe’s jauntiness and vitality; he yearned to protect her from the ugliness he perceived in the world around them. Phoebe is perhaps the only reminder that Holden still had the capacity to

”(Salinger 169 ). Holden responds with a depressed demeanor and lies and tells her he does like some things. Phoebe argues with Holden, convincing him that he doesn’t seem to like nearly anything. This makes Holden feel down about himself. When phoebe points out the things he hates it makes him upset because she was right about him.