Holden Caulfield Dangerous Quotes

Although Holden talks at length about what he dislikes about the society he does find comfort in things he believes are innocent which he feels need to protected. This is why he did not have sex with Sunny he saw her as vulnerable creature placed in a dangerous situation like the ducks he saw at the park in central park which is surrounded by the hazardous streets of New York City. This reminded of other people which he viewed weak as the ducks like Jane which was going on a date with Stradlater this in Holden's mind was a weak creature and her date was a potentially dangerous situation. In response, he told Stradlater to “ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row”(Salinger 39). Which was Holden's way to warn her to be on the
He admires the Natural History Museum stating “You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway." (Salinger 136). He wishes the children didn't grow up and instead stayed innocent and unchanged like the exhibits. He also wishes he could preserve Phoebe innocents much like their brother Allie’s innocence was when he died even though Holden knows it's impractical, which is why Holden holds Allies memory so high and pristine. In Chapter 25 Holden finds a fuck you written on the wall in Phoebe's school and he didn't think that an innocent child was capable of that so his first assumption was that “some pervy bum that'd sneaked into the school late at night to take a leak or something then wrote it on the wall”(Salinger 221). He doesn't dare think that an innocent child could have written that, he rubs it off the wall in order to protect kids from learning what the profanity means. The next F you Holden encounters is scratched into the wall that's when he realized that “you couldn't rub out even half the ‘fuck you’ signs in the world it's impossible.” (Salinger
Even though the novel written from Holden Caulfield’s perspective it's still shown he is not a perfect character he struggles with finding happiness and a place in society. Several characters try to give Holden advice throughout the novel pertaining to his happiness it's clear he dislike and wants to reject society, however, that is unrealistic and many people looking out for Holden also disagree with him. His teacher Mr.Spencer says “ life is a game boy life is a game that one plays according to the rules” (Salinger 11). Meaning he can’t reject society rather he must find his place in it and accept the rules society has already established even though he may not agree with them. His other teacher Mr.Antolini understands that Holden needs to hit a low point in order to grow from and tells Holden “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”(Salinger 209). Meaning that Holden should find something he is passionate about to live for rather than using it as an excuse to die for because to die for a cause is to waste your life while to live for one is to have a life with purpose and would give Holden a place in society. However, he cannot protect the innocence of people by