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
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.