Theme Of Childhood In Catcher In The Rye

Some works of literature portray childhood and adolescence as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder. Others portray it as times of tribulation and terror. In J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, childhood seems to be shown more as times of innocence. Childhood is praised by the protagonist Holden Caulfield, as he does not seem to like the idea that he will grow up and life will be different. The meaning of the novel as a whole is basically that growing up sucks, so protect your innocence. Holden shows this throughout the entire novel by showing his hatred to society, sex and change. Holden talks about how he hates pretty much everyone, women, phonies, and even cliques, he hates that society is run by adults and he HATES adults. He
“Certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and leave them alone” (122). Holden does not like change because it reminds him that he too must change in the process of growing up as change seems to be the only definite thing to happen in life, no matter how much he tries to avoid it. Whenever Holden felt that life was changing too much for him, he would visit the museum, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole” (121) Holden feels secure in the museum because he knows that it is the exact same as the first time he saw it. This suggests that Holden wants to go back to the good ol’ days, the days of youth. The days when he did not feel the pressure of becoming an adult, because everytime he would go back, “The only thing that would be different would be you” (121). Holden is afraid to grow up, he is not ready to be an adult, nor is he mature enough. He fears change for others too, he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He explained that, “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I
Throughout the novel Holden fights to protect his innocence from the cruel society around him that is just so… phony. He hates all of society for the phony things it does, he hates sex because that may make him feel that he too is apart of the adult life, and he hates change because change is just a recipe for a child to step into the new life, the older more mature life. The one that comes with responsibilities that Holden is not ready to