Literary Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye

“I hope to hell when I do die somebody has the sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. people coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach… Who wants flowers when you're dead?”(Salinger 172). Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, begins his journey confused, alone and filled with regret. Holden regrets doing bad in school, not for his sake, but his parents. Holden regrets not seeing his sister, but most of all Holden regrets not saving his brother Allie from his untimely death of Leukemia. Holden feels he has a responsibility to save everyone because he failed to save his brother. Holden’s regret for not saving his brother inevitably
Holden becomes so angst in the world, he sees no other solution but to run away from it all, and in doing so he finds his sister sharing his desire, but for different reasons. Phoebe only wants to be with Holden, but Holden wants her to stay. When he sees her anger towards him, Holden realizes that he can not “catch” her without controlling her, and she runs across the street. Holden is, at first fearful of her sudden decision to run away, but he “...didn’t follow her, though. I knew she’d follow me…”(229). Holden, trailed by Phoebe from the other side of the street comes to the zoo. At the zoo, Holden comes to the old carousel. Phoebe goes on the carousel at Holden’s urging, but he doesn’t follow her. He knows she will be fine. “I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam 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.”(232). With this, Holden accepts he can not save Phoebe from what she wants to do, and thereby he lets her grow