Catcher In The Rye Theme Analysis

J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat. Caulfield’s fantasy about the catcher in the rye is a good example of the theme of keeping innocence. Caulfield imagines childhood as a huge rye field with children running and playing. This is a model
image of the purity and innocence of childhood. A fatal fall off the edge of the cliff is how Caulfield envisions the process of entering adulthood. He believes it is his responsibility to protect the children from falling off the edge, becoming the catcher in the rye. He wants to keep the adolescents from the harsh reality of the real world and keep them innocent. While in the process of doing this he himself is taking a tumble off the cliff into adulthood. He is so busy keeping the children from loosing their innocence that he does not realize that he has lost his own. The song that Caulfield sings, “Coming’ Thro’ the Rye,” also portrays painfulness of entering adulthood and the innocence he is trying to protect. He thinks the song goes, “If a body catch a body coming thro the rye,” which he thinks means he is responsible to catch the bodies of the children before they loose their purity. But as his sister, Phoebe pointed out, the lyrics are actually “If a body meet a body, coming thro the rye.” The real lyrics show that he cannot prevent kids from becoming adults and loosing their innocence, but he needs to guide and mentor the children down the right path of adulthood. Phoebe, Caulfield’s younger sister, is a very mature but innocent child. Even though she is mature, Caulfield still believes it is his responsibility to shield her from the harshness of the adult world. For example on page 221 Caulfield is at her school to deliver something for her and he sits down on the stairs before he meets her. He looks over and sees profanity written on the stairs. He cannot believe his eyes and Salinger writes, “ He kept wanting to kill the person who wrote it” which shows his opinions about cuss words in the setting. He also says that he worries about Phoebe and the other kids seeing the words and wondering what it means. When they figure out what the word means Caulfield knows it will strip away a little piece of innocence in the children. He quickly rubs it off the wall so that his sister will not see it. Caulfield is trying to shield Phoebe and all of the other children attending the school from the harshness of the world around them even though some of them, especially Phoebe, are extremely mature, intelligent young children. Another example of when he tried to protect her was when she was at the Skate Park and Caulfield saw her bruised knees and was curious about what happened. When he found out that some other kid had pushed her down, he wanted to set the kid straight, but Phoebe convinced him to leave him be. All Caulfield wants to do is protect his sister, but when Phoebe convinces him to let her deal with it for herself, he realizes she has become an adult and does not need him protecting her anymore. Both these examples show how Caulfield wants to shield his sister from any harshness the world has to offer, he wants to keep her innocent. Caulfield’s brother Allie, who passed away when Caulfield was younger, owns a red hunting hat that Caulfield takes after he dies. Allie’s hat is a symbol of his youthfulness and innocence. Because he dies as a child the hat remains a figure of innocence. When Caulfield takes his brother’s hat, he is taking a piece of his brother with him. The red hat represents individuality and originality. The hat is different from any normal apparel, and when Caulfield wears it, it shows his desires to be different. The color of the hat, red, is the color of Allie and Phoebe’s hair, which is also a depiction of innocence. Both Phoebe and Allie are innocent in Caulfield’s mind. Caulfield associates the hat with the innocence and purity that Phoebe and Allie possess. Because the hat was his brother’s and it is a representation of his brother and sister’s innocence, he wears the hat to remain close to them and close to the innocence they obtain. Throughout the novel the theme of keeping innocence is portrayed a great deal.
Through the catcher in the rye, his protectiveness of his sister, and his deceased brother’s hunting hat this theme is portrayed. In his theory about the catcher in the rye, it shows his obsession with keeping children innocent. He is trying so hard to keep the children from experiencing things that will take away their innocence. Caulfield is so obsessed with keeping the children innocent because he has realized that he has lost his youthfulness and does not want the other children to experience the pain of adulthood. By the end of the book he realizes that he does not need to keep the children from becoming an adult, but he needs to guide them. "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."(Salinger, pg.
224)