too late.
English 10 Honors
October 4th 2004
Catcher In the Rye: Holden, The Catcher In the Rye
Holden Caulfield, the main character and narrator of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a cynical character. He feels like the whole world is against him and the world is full of “phonies.� He believes most people carry out (morally) good actions only achieve material gain. Holden is intensely judgmental and he tends to classify people in a broad category without reading further into personalities, usually making a decision in a matter of minutes. His whole personality may also be due to his child-like tendencies of holding on to innocence and protection being the focus of his relationship with Phoebe. Holden finds himself as the only normal, non-phony person as opposed to every other person being a phony.
According to Holden, “the catcher in the rye� is what he would like to be.
“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game is 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 cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them…that’s the only thing I’d really like to be� (p. 173).
He changes the lyrics to the song, written by Robert Burns, from “If a body meet a body� to “If a body catch a body� to suit his own needs. His desire to be this “catcher� shows how Holden has a need to protect children from adulthood and losing their innocence, mainly the “children� falling off the cliff are representative of Phoebe and his feelings of somewhat responsibility. Holden catching children from falling would be to help the kids from being in trouble or “falling off the wrong path�. Another interpretation of this vision could be that Holden needs to take responsibility where in past he has not been able to step up for his own actions (or lack of actions). The reason for this “need� could have been due to the lack of parental units during Holden’s childhood or perhaps that he does not want to grow up himself. Later on in the book it is clear that Holden progresses from this state of self-denial and “grows up� to find that he is not a child.
Another major example for Holden’s tendencies is when he sees the “F-you� scribbled on the school wall. Holden tries to get the graffiti off the wall but then realizes its all useless and he is not able to erase all of the “bad words� from everywhere. He basically gives in to the fact that he is not able to erase all of the “bad words�, in turn he is not able to prevent the maturing of the children. This shows the progress Holden makes and how he now accepts the fact he cannot always protect Phoebe from adulthood and possibly the problems he faced and is currently going through right now. Another example that shows Holden’s maturing through the story is that he does not prevent Phoebe from riding the carrousel.
“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 god dam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. 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, but it’s bad if you say anything to them� (p. 211).
So finally, Holden comes to the realization that he alone is not capable of controlling the life and maturity of his sister. This is yet another example of how Holden grows through the story. All of the examples mentioned, especially the “catcher in the rye� highlight and help to show that Holden has significantly grown, especially at the very end.
my friend told me he punches one out into his hand and throws it (load) at his chicks face and yells "yahtzee!" no lie.-couchskier
is sucking your own dick considered masturbation or self inflicted fellatio?
who else but Lat^
*NS Skateboarders*
