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The appeal of The Catcher in the Rye lies in the main character, Holden Caulfield. When Holden explains the three important days of his life in New York, he sees the world critically and is disgusted with the phoniness in society. He believes that as the children of society mature, their innocence is ripped away from them. Holden's ultimate goal is to become The Catcher in the Rye and save all children from losing their innocence. In the middle of the story, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden states, Anyway, I 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 mean except me.
And Im 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 theyre running and they dont look where theyre going. I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be The Catcher in the Rye and all. I know its crazy, but its the only thing Id really like to be. (Page 173) This statement is a metaphor for Holden's desire to keep innocent children from being destroyed by the phony adult world.
Holden's dream is to become The Catcher in the Rye so that he can protect children from the harshness of society. Holden has a younger sister named Phoebe. Whenever he sees her, he cant help but admire her innocence and enthusiasm. She represents what Holden wants to be, what he wants to save and preserve in both himself and in all kids. Phoebe reminds Holden of what its like to ride on the carousel in Central Park or visit the museum. Holden takes his sister Phoebe to a park.
Phoebe rides on a carousel as Holden simply watches. He was afraid that she might fall off when she grabbed for the gold ring on the pony, but he suddenly restrains himself from protecting her and realizes that sometimes you just have to let kids go. The thing is 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 its bad to say anything to them. (Page 211) Symbolically, Holden realized that his dream was unrealistic. He cannot keep children from growing up and living their own experiences.
Holden realizes that no one can keep his or her innocence. Towards the end of the story, Holden again realizes that he cannot be the Catcher in the Rye. This was proven when Holden states that he cant erase even half of the f yous in the world. When Holden first sees the f you on the wall of Phoebes elementary school, Holden said, It drove me damn near crazy.
I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it, and how theyd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them- all cockeyed, naturally what it meant, and how theyd think about it even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever written it. (Page 201) His dream of shielding all of the innocent children from society's bad influences was ruined by this realization. Over the three days Holden spends wandering the streets of New York, he realizes that he cant be The Catcher in the Rye and he cant erase all the f yous in the world. He realizes that he cant protect the childrens innocence. It becomes evident that children need to create their own experiences in order to mature and be able to live on their own.
Holden becomes aware that an actual Catcher in The Rye cannot really exist in todays world.
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Research essay sample on Catcher In The Rye Gold Ring
