Themes Present in the Catcher in the Rye
Zachary Sessions
Mrs. Neal
English 2204 7th
30 November 2012
Phoniness, Loneliness, and Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye
Generally, the ordinary public typically contains problems with deception and the sensation of cheating. Within the globe, the feeling of phoniness is present and can result in vast varieties of individuals to distrust one another. In the bottomless trench of every human being’s bowels, there is also a vacancy. In all of the lives of the world, citizens collectively stumble upon this vacancy referred to as loneliness, which can cause consequences such as depression and a poor self-image. Innocence causes certain dilemmas down the road when it is time to mature and liberate away from it. Throughout the lives of residents of the immense population, one naturally faces a complicated fork in the road that eventually forces numerous people to make a difficult split decision. On one side, lies the road to innocence and on the converse side is the road to maturity. The harsh truth is every person must stride down the road of maturity and deliberately depart from the childish innocence within. Coming of age can be the most complicated phase of peoples’ lives because sometimes growing up can be quite different, but to reach maturity, the innocence within must perish in order to keep moving on, and begin the next phase of life. Through the adolescent eyes of a troubled teenage boy named, Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger communicates the continuous, everyday struggles of Holden by delving into the themes of phoniness, loneliness, and innocence in The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the story, Holden perceives every solitary thing he encounters as phony, even though he happens to be just as forged as the things his juvenile mentality considers phony. To Holden, phony is the word he uses to depict people who are insincere, hypocritical and who are more worried about looking good or selfishly holding up their image. “Holden loudly complains
Mrs. Neal
English 2204 7th
30 November 2012
Phoniness, Loneliness, and Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye
Generally, the ordinary public typically contains problems with deception and the sensation of cheating. Within the globe, the feeling of phoniness is present and can result in vast varieties of individuals to distrust one another. In the bottomless trench of every human being’s bowels, there is also a vacancy. In all of the lives of the world, citizens collectively stumble upon this vacancy referred to as loneliness, which can cause consequences such as depression and a poor self-image. Innocence causes certain dilemmas down the road when it is time to mature and liberate away from it. Throughout the lives of residents of the immense population, one naturally faces a complicated fork in the road that eventually forces numerous people to make a difficult split decision. On one side, lies the road to innocence and on the converse side is the road to maturity. The harsh truth is every person must stride down the road of maturity and deliberately depart from the childish innocence within. Coming of age can be the most complicated phase of peoples’ lives because sometimes growing up can be quite different, but to reach maturity, the innocence within must perish in order to keep moving on, and begin the next phase of life. Through the adolescent eyes of a troubled teenage boy named, Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger communicates the continuous, everyday struggles of Holden by delving into the themes of phoniness, loneliness, and innocence in The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the story, Holden perceives every solitary thing he encounters as phony, even though he happens to be just as forged as the things his juvenile mentality considers phony. To Holden, phony is the word he uses to depict people who are insincere, hypocritical and who are more worried about looking good or selfishly holding up their image. “Holden loudly complains