Resumo de Catcher In The Rye - Loss Of Innocence

In JD Salingers'' Catcher in the Rye, a troubled
teenager named Holden Caufield struggles with the fact that everyone
has to grow up. The book gets its title from Holden''s constant concern
with the loss of innocence. He did not want children to grow up because
he felt that adults are corrupt. This is seen when Holden tries to
erase naughty words from the walls of an elementary school where his
younger sister Phoebe attended. "While I was sitting down, I saw
something that drove me crazy. Somebody''d written ''Fuck you'' on the
wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the
other little kids would see it, and how they''d wonder what the hell it
meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them- all cockeyed,
naturally- what it meant, and how they''d all think about it and maybe
even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill
whoever''d written it. I figured it was some perverty bum that''d sneaked
in the school late at night to take a leak or something and then wrote
it on the wall. I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I''d
smash his head on the stone steps till hew as good and goddam dead and
bloody." (201) His deep concern with impeccability caused him to create
stereotypes of a hooligan that would try to corrupt the children of an
elementary school. Holden believed that children were innocent because
they viewed the world and society without any bias. When Phoebe asked
him to name something that he would like to be when he grew up, the
only thing he would have liked to be was a "catcher in the rye." He
invented an illusion for himself of a strange fantasy. He stated that
he would like to follow a poem by Robert Burns: "If a body catch a body
comin'' through the rye." He 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 I''m
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 they''re
running and they don''t look where they''re going I have to come out from
somewhere and catch them. That¡¦s all I''d do all day. I''d just be the
catcher in the rye and all. I know it''s crazy, but that''s the only
thing I''d really like to be." (173) Holden wants to stop children from
"falling" into losing their innocence and becoming an adult, and he
takes pleasure in the attempted thwarting of maturation.

In the beginning of Catcher in the Rye, his initial character is one of
a child. Throughout the book, he takes steps and the forces of change
take a toll on his childish ways. In the end, he seems to be changed
into a man. Holden is definitely extremely immature in the beginning of
the book. He characterizes almost every person he meets as a "phony".
He feels that he is surrounded by hypocrites in a school filled with
fakery. Principal Thurmer, the principal of Holden''s high school,
Pencey, was the leader of the whole charade. During a teacher/parent
day, Principal Thurmer would only say hello to the wealthy parents of
students. He would not associate himself with those that were not
financially stable, because he was a phony.

Holden also maintains a lack of responsibility throughout the whole
book. He was the equipment manager of the fencing team at Pencey, but
he lost the equipment on the subway. He also failed out of two schools
for lack of effort and absences from classes. Holden also had a
daydream about two children who never grew up, whore main in a perfect
world forever. This daydream is a result of his younger brother Allie''s
death. Allie represents the unchangeable youth of which Holden must let
go if he ever expects to maintain sanity. Holden has a fixation on
childhood, which shows itself in many forms. His glorification of
children, inordinate admiration of Phr, and the joy he gets from reminiscing about his own
childhood all contribute to his obsession with innocence and youth.

Throughout the middle of the book, forces of change unfold on Holden.
While waiting for an old friend of his, he had the sudden urge to go
into a museum that he had visited while still a child in school in
order to bring back memories of his childhood. However, when he finally
reached the museum, he decided not to. "Then a funny thing happened.
When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn''t have gone inside
for a million bucks. It just didn''t appeal to me..." (122) This shows
that Holden is becoming an adult. He did not want to enter the museum
because he realized that he was too old to take part in such an
activity. When he takes Phoebe to a carousel later in the book, he
decided not to ride on it, or even stand on it during a rain storm,
because he felt "too old" to get on. Holden also had another one of his
childish fantasies for his future. He wanted to go and be a deaf mute
somewhere in the west, so he wouldn''t have to deal with all the phonies
and hypocrites of every day life. Phoebe told him that she wanted to go
along with him, but he denies her of this because of his growing
responsibility and metamorphosis as an adult. He told her, "I''m not
going away anywhere. I changed my mind." (207)

At the end of the book, Holden seems to be much more mature. His key
step was when he did not ride with Phoebe on the carrousel. Holden only
watched his sister ride along. In the center of the carousel, there was
a gold ring. The children riding on the carousel would reach for the
gold ring in order to win a prize. "All the kids kept trying to grab
for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and 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. If they fall
off, they fall off, but it''s bad if you say anything to them."(211)
This carousel symbolizes life, and the constant journey of childhood
into adulthood. Children would sometimes fall when striving to reach
the gold ring in the center of life, or their complete success or
adulthood. Holden would have yelled out to the children that it was
dangerous to try to achieve this goal, but he realized in this
anagnoresis that the children should go along the path of life by
themselves.

Throughout the book, Holden tried to save all children from growing up
and losing their innocence. When he realized that he could not achieve
this goal, he had a nervous breakdown and could not deal with it.
However, it is an inevitable fact that everyone has to grow up.

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