How Is Holden Caulfield Loss Of Innocence
It is said that high school is either the best time of a person’s life or the worst. Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, epitomizes this as readers watch him struggle going through the pains of adolescence. Growing up in the 1950’s Holden is a teenager who appears to have it all. He is very smart, wealthy, and has a loving family. When looking at it closer, one can see that Holden’s appreciation of childhood innocence, and his trust issues, make him scared to enter adulthood and keep him from having healthy relationships. Holden cannot keep friends for an extended amount of time. He ends up pushing them away, or he behaves so strangely they never get to know the real Holden.
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Holden seems to be surrounded by insincere people who he refers to as “phonies.” This reinforces his trust issues with adults and teenagers. He feels the world turns children into phonies, including his own family. When talking about his brother, D.B., Holden says, “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t ever mention them to me” (Salinger 2). Holden feels that since D.B. grew up and became a writer for the movies instead of writing the stories he wrote as a kid, that he’s a sell out and has now become what Holden thinks is a phony. Insincere people continue to appear including his classmates. He has taken on a philosophy regarding this when he is talking to Ernest Morrow’s mother on the train. When he is thinking about Mrs. Morrow’s son, he point out “they don’t just stay a rat while they are a kid. They stay a rat their whole life” (Salinger 57). Here Holden is remembering a time when Ernest is trying to truly hurt kids by snapping towels at them. Holden realizes that there may not be any hope for Ernest. Although Holden may be judgmental for the right reasons when it comes to Ernest, this is still an example of him seperating himself from the people around him because he doesn’t trust them due to lack of childhood innocence. As Holden wanders the streets of New York avoiding having to go home, we get an idea of Holden’s way of thinking. When he visits the Natural History Museum, he comments: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Noboby’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, and the birds would still be on their way south…” (Salinger 121). This reiterates that Holden is most comfortable with things not changing. His concerns with having to grow into an adult and take on new, uncertain roles in
Holden seems to be surrounded by insincere people who he refers to as “phonies.” This reinforces his trust issues with adults and teenagers. He feels the world turns children into phonies, including his own family. When talking about his brother, D.B., Holden says, “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t ever mention them to me” (Salinger 2). Holden feels that since D.B. grew up and became a writer for the movies instead of writing the stories he wrote as a kid, that he’s a sell out and has now become what Holden thinks is a phony. Insincere people continue to appear including his classmates. He has taken on a philosophy regarding this when he is talking to Ernest Morrow’s mother on the train. When he is thinking about Mrs. Morrow’s son, he point out “they don’t just stay a rat while they are a kid. They stay a rat their whole life” (Salinger 57). Here Holden is remembering a time when Ernest is trying to truly hurt kids by snapping towels at them. Holden realizes that there may not be any hope for Ernest. Although Holden may be judgmental for the right reasons when it comes to Ernest, this is still an example of him seperating himself from the people around him because he doesn’t trust them due to lack of childhood innocence. As Holden wanders the streets of New York avoiding having to go home, we get an idea of Holden’s way of thinking. When he visits the Natural History Museum, he comments: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Noboby’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, and the birds would still be on their way south…” (Salinger 121). This reiterates that Holden is most comfortable with things not changing. His concerns with having to grow into an adult and take on new, uncertain roles in