Loss Of Innocence

“My dad once told me, people who don’t smoke are missing out, then it came to me, that people have different approaches on what ‘missing out’ really means,” tying together people’s false judgement on Salinger missing out, by staying isolated(One). Communicating the same idea, Salinger is secluded from society, and doesn’t want to be affiliated in any way. Throughout the story, Catcher in the Rye , there is a young boy named Holden, that embodies the same emotions Salinger has experienced and still feels. Holden is faced with the real world after he flunks out of his boarding school, Pencey academy. From here he meets all sorts of people ranging from teachers, all the way down to prostitutes. Salinger’s loss of innocence is illustrated through
For instance, when Salinger fought in WWII, the pure bloodshed, ruthlessness, and overall inhuman deeds, like touring through concentration camps were enough to cause anyone to lose their innocence. These maddening experiences heavily distanced him from his family and in the end, tore it apart. Due to the nature of humans, it is quite common for one’s ethics and morals to fall in scenarios where one feels their work is being undervalued, especially at the expense of their own suffering(Salinger Documentary). After experiencing the world, and losing his innocence, he feels it’s his job to protect the others around him, even if it means he has to be separated from them, demonstrating how one should cope with their loss of innocence with isolation. While many individuals would believe being alone doesn’t directly help anybody's case, the lack of a negative influence preserves any innocence that resides in a person, similarly, Salinger protects those around him by helping them not lose their innocence too early in life by maintaining his distance. Moreover, WWII was a major focal point in Salinger’s life as before the war, Salinger wasn’t accustomed to a lonely life, and even had a girlfriend. Even in his time of service he was among men, revealing his
Holden was also lonely, displaying some of the traits of Salinger, at the beginning of the book, Holden was watching a football game on a hill by himself, “because practically the whole school except me was there,” as he didn’t like his school to begin with, and was accustomed to being isolated for a while at this point in the novel (Salinger 3). Holden, while secluded from the school, was also protecting the other students by his lack of participation in the game because he was preserving their innocence, displaying Salinger’s intent of dealing with lack of innocence with isolation. When one loses something important to them, naturally they want to help others preserve what they themselves lost, similarly to Holden, despite his unwelcoming feelings towards the students at Pencey, deep down he still portrays his compassion towards them, by choosing to be isolated from them. In addition, later on in the novel, after Holden leaves Pencey,”I felt like giving somebody a buzz...but I didn’t feel like it after,” conveying Holden’s revelation in how he shouldn’t be with anybody or he’ll put the person in risk of losing their innocence. Holden, after leaving his boarding school thinks he’s a new person and he understands life, but in reality, he’s just a lost kid, with his innocence stripped from him. While he still managed to save the