Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield in, The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, lives a troubled life of not really caring about the repercussions of his actions. Holden’s beliefs on life are very narrow minded and he is very judgmental of everyone around him. Holden also has a strong belief that mostly everyone in the world is a phony. This ties into Holden’s wants of becoming a catcher in the rye when he is older. In the future Holden wants to become the catcher in the rye to save children from falling into the rye. This idea of doing this came into Holden’s mind after hearing the poem by Robert Burns. Holden thinks that the poem says “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye,” but the actual lyric is “If a body meet a body, coming through the rye.”The original poem is about two adults meeting in the rye, Holden misconstrues this line and thinks that it means someone catching someone in the rye, which Holden wants to do. Holden wants to stand on the edge of the cliff and catch the children from falling. This is symbolic of Holden wanting to save himself along with other children having to grow up in a world that he believes to be phony. Holden wants to catch the kids before they lose their innocence and fall into an adult world with adult beliefs. By Holden wanting to be The Catcher in the Rye, it is symbolic throughout the book and how he doesn’t want to grow up and tries to avoid everyone who is phony. He doesn’t want children to lose their innocence because it is something pure that only lasts temporarily. Holden’s wish to be the “catcher in the rye” is significant to explaining who Holden is as a person. After the reader finds out what Holden wants to become when he is older you get a better understanding of Holden and his beliefs. In a world that is all phony to him, he just wants to live. Even though he may not want to hurt any feelings, he comes off very rude. Allies death was a turning point in Holden’s life and changed