NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Nikki Bumbacco Ms. Harrison ENG OAC July 24, 2000 The Catcher in the Rye: Analysis of Holden Caulfeild Innocence, Compassion, and some? Crazy? Cliff. A novel, which has gained literary recognition worldwide, scrutiny to the point of censorship and has established a following among adolescents, The Catcher in the Rye is in its entirety a unique connotation of the preservation of innocence and the pursuit of compassion. With certain elegance the writer J.
D. Salinger, substantiates the growth and perils, which lie between childhood and adulthood. Embellishing the differentiation between innocence and squalor in the grasps of society. The bridge that lies between these contrasting themes are personified through the novel? s protagonist, Holden Caulfield and his visualization of a cliff, which depicts a dividing point between the evident and end.
The connection, which binds this gap in reality, was made clear through a new found compassion, consummating. Focusing on the rebellious and confused actuality of adolescents stuck between the innocence of childhood and the corruptness of the adult world, this novel strikes a cord, which most adolescents can relate. Holden Caulfield, the main character has been revealed in the first person view in a unique narrative of a teenage boy who forms a transition into adulthood. The essence of the story The Catcher in the Rye follows the forty-eight hour escapade of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, told through first person narration. After his expulsion from Pency, a fashionable prep school, the lat-est in a long line of expulsions, Holden has a few confrontations with his fellow students and leaves shortly after to return to his hometown, New York City. In the heart of New York City, Holden spends the following two days hiding out to rest before confronting his parents with the news.
During his adventures in the city he tries to renew some old acquaintances, find his significance in the adult world, and come to grips with the head-aches he has been having lately. Eventually, Holden sneaks home to visit his sister Phoebe, because alone on the streets he feels as if he has no where else to turn. Children are the only people with whom Holden can communicate with throughout the novel, not because they can help him with his growing pains but because they remind him of a simpler time, his innocence, which he wishes he could return. The trials of the adult world wear down Holden? s vision of a place in society, portraying innocence as a form of retreat from a confusing world.
Understanding Holden? s notion of innocence and the role it play throughout the novel helps to put in tune the underlying message found in Holden? s description of the catcher in the rye. ? 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 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 all I? d do all day. I? d just be the catcher in the rye and all? (173). The principle of the catcher in the rye is a means for Holden to devote his life to the protection of innocence.
Secondly, it crystallizes for us Holden? s concept of good and evil; childhood is good, the only pure good, but it is surrounded by perils, the cliff of adolescence over which the children will plunge in the evil of adulthood unles stopped. But finally, the image is based on a mis-understanding. The Burns poem goes? If a body meet a body? not?
if a body catch a body, ? and the fact that Phoebe is aware of this and Holden is not, plus the manner in which these two words (? catch? and? meet? ) are-examined and re-interpreted by Holden at the end of the novel, shows us in a powerful and deeply suggestive way the center of Holden? s diffi-city. ?
Holden? s view of life as it is and the way life should be is based on a minder-standing of man? s place in society. Having difficulty coming to grips with this minder-standing, Holden crosses a threshold. Later he fatefully comes in contact with his sister once again, at the Central Park carousel in the final scene of the novel. At the sight of his sister he is overcome by a love for all people when he sees how much his sister cares about him.
He even expresses that he misses all the people who did wrong to him. Holden is not mature enough to know what to do with this love, but he is mature enough to accept it. In this world, realizing what is squalor and what is good, and loving it all is the first step in achieving identity and humility: compassion is what Holden learns. The foretelling of the story ends abruptly but we learn that Holden in the end goes out west and is seeking psychological treatment in California. Through his recovery and the experiences of those two lonely days, he gains compassion towards everyone, in-cluding himself. While his vision of the catcher in the rye was a hope, a dream, and a job Holden realizes that such a dream is impractical in the world.
Although innocence is not lost in Holden? s case, it is apparent that it was only passed by but by facing the world and loving it indiscriminately, such compassion will fill his need for acceptance and place in the world. Substantially giving Holden an admission into society and the acceptance of the responsibilities of adulthood Nikki Bumbacco Ms. Harrison ENG OAC July 24, 2000 The Catcher in the Rye: Analysis of Holden Caulfeild Innocence, Compassion, and some?
Crazy? Cliff. A novel, which has gained literary recognition worldwide, scrutiny to the point of censorship and has established a following among adolescents, The Catcher in the Rye is in its entirety a unique connotation of the preservation of innocence and the pursuit of compassion. With certain elegance the writer J. D. Salinger, substantiates the growth and perils, which lie between childhood and adulthood.
Embellishing the differentiation between innocence and squalor in the grasps of society. The bridge that lies between these contrasting themes are personified through the novel? s protagonist, Holden Caulfield and his visualization of a cliff, which depicts a dividing point between the evident and end. The connection, which binds this gap in reality, was made clear through a new found compassion, consummating.
Focusing on the rebellious and confused actuality of adolescents stuck between the innocence of childhood and the corruptness of the adult world, this novel strikes a cord, which most adolescents can relate. Holden Caulfield, the main character has been revealed in the first person view in a unique narrative of a teenage boy who forms a transition into adulthood. The essence of the story The Catcher in the Rye follows the forty-eight hour escapade of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, told through first person narration. After his expulsion from Pency, a fashionable prep school, the lat-est in a long line of expulsions, Holden has a few confrontations with his fellow students and leaves shortly after to return to his hometown, New York City. In the heart of New York City, Holden spends the following two days hiding out to rest before confronting his parents with the news.
During his adventures in the city he tries to renew some old acquaintances, find his significance in the adult world, and come to grips with the head-aches he has been having lately. Eventually, Holden sneaks home to visit his sister Phoebe, because alone on the streets he feels as if he has no where else to turn. Children are the only people with whom Holden can communicate with throughout the novel, not because they can help him with his growing pains but because they remind him of a simpler time, his innocence, which he wishes he could return. The trials of the adult world wear down Holden?
s vision of a place in society, portraying innocence as a form of retreat from a confusing world. Understanding Holden? s notion of innocence and the role it play throughout the novel helps to put in tune the underlying message found in Holden? s description of the catcher in the rye. ? 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 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 all I? d do all day. I? d just be the catcher in the rye and all? (173). The principle of the catcher in the rye is a means for Holden to devote his life to the protection of innocence. Secondly, it crystallizes for us Holden?
s concept of good and evil; childhood is good, the only pure good, but it is surrounded by perils, the cliff of adolescence over which the children will plunge in the evil of adulthood unles stopped. But finally, the image is based on a mis-understanding. The Burns poem goes? If a body meet a body? not? if a body catch a body, ?
and the fact that Phoebe is aware of this and Holden is not, plus the manner in which these two words (? catch? and? meet? ) are-examined and re-interpreted by Holden at the end of the novel, shows us in a powerful and deeply suggestive way the center of Holden? s diffi-city. ? Holden?
s view of life as it is and the way life should be is based on a minder-standing of man? s place in society. Having difficulty coming to grips with this minder-standing, Holden crosses a threshold. Later he fatefully comes in contact with his sister once again, at the Central Park carousel in the final scene of the novel. At the sight of his sister he is overcome by a love for all people when he sees how much his sister cares about him. He even expresses that he misses all the people who did wrong to him.
Holden is not mature enough to know what to do with this love, but he is mature enough to accept it. In this world, realizing what is squalor and what is good, and loving it all is the first step in achieving identity and humility: compassion is what Holden learns. The foretelling of the story ends abruptly but we learn that Holden in the end goes out west and is seeking psychological treatment in California. Through his recovery and the experiences of those two lonely days, he gains compassion towards everyone, in-cluding himself. While his vision of the catcher in the rye was a hope, a dream, and a job Holden realizes that such a dream is impractical in the world.
Although innocence is not lost in Holden? s case, it is apparent that it was only passed by but by facing the world and loving it indiscriminately, such compassion will fill his need for acceptance and place in the world. Substantially giving Holden an admission into society and the acceptance of the responsibilities of adulthood. Salinger J. D. The Catcher in the Rye.
Canada: Little, Brown and Company, 1991
Free research essays on topics related to: holden, holden caulfield, innocence, crazy cliff, sister phoebe
Research essay sample on Holden Caulfield Crazy Cliff
