Every child dreams
of the day they are granted with the same freedom and respect as adults. They
yearn to be taken seriously, resulting in them making idiotic choices like
getting drunk or smoking, that no respected adult would do. Holden Caulfield
from The Catcher in the Rye is no exception. Everyone has a difficult
time transitioning from these two stages in life, but Holden has an exceptionally
hard time due to his painful past and the guilt he feels for moving on from it.
Holden refers to his childhood as “David Copperfield crap” (pg. 1). While there
are many characteristics that classify Holden as an adult- being tall, smoking,
having grey hair-, there are just as many that would classify him as a child-
smoking so much he cannot run, not being served alcohol at respectable bars,
frequently using curse words, hiring a prostitute because he wants someone to
talk to, and insulting girls whom he like.
Though Holden is trying to act older
than he is, Holden is also simultaneously trying to keep a tight hold on his
childhood. This is the result of a few things; for one, change is scary,
especially when that change means to start to fend for yourself. “The best
thing about the museum was that everything always stayed right where it was.
The only thing that would change is you.” (pg. 135). In a museum, if you think
of a section of it a person’s life then the museum would still never change.
You can only truly document an event when it is over or extinct. Holden doesn’t
want to freeze time, he wants to go through the museum of his life and step
into a past exhibit that he liked more. Holden wants to go back to when the
people he loves were the people he originally knew them as. He felt that it was
his job to save his loved ones from themselves. The only problem is that life
is not a museum; you cannot walk from one exhibit to the next, living in the
one that is most pleasant. It is all your experiences- good and bad- that make
you who you are.
“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.” You cannot control people. Holden had these incredibly high
expectations for everyone that he loved. He was upset with his brother D.B. for
moving to Hollywood and becoming a sellout, he was upset with Jane for going
out with Stradlater because Holden thought she was too good for him. During
this page of the book Holden not only realizes he has to let Phoebe go and not
be so afraid of losing her, but he also has to let the child in himself go, so
that he can grow up. There is a point in everyone’s life where the child inside
you dies to make room for a practical life. In the novel Holden is at this
point of his life, though he is resisting it. He feels guilty for growing up
when Allie never will and to Holden this feels like moving on. This death, or disappearance,
of being a child brings up memories of Allie’s death, which forces Holden to
mourn two deaths throughout the novel.
“I keep picturing all these little
kids playing some game in this field of rye and all. Thousands of kids, and
nobody’s around- except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
What I have to do is catch everybody if they start to go off the cliff.” (pg.
191). This is how Holden acquired the name “The Catcher in the Rye.” He took it
as his personal responsibility to save others, especially children, because no
one was able to save Allie from death and no one could save Holden from his
grief. Holden wants to blind children from pain, but you cannot do that
forever. Without exposing children to pain they will expect to get everything
they want whenever they want it and the world does not work like that. Death is
a prominent part of life that you cannot hide yourself or other people from.
Throughout the novel, Holden, asks repeatedly
“where do the duck in central park go in the winter when the lake freezes over.”
Holden really could not care less about
the ducks; he is using this question to ask where Allie went. One day the ducks
were swimming in the lake, with the sun out, and the next day they are gone
with no warning, leaving behind only a desolate frozen lake. The hardest part
about death is after seeing someone every day for most of your life and then,
with no warning, they are gone and you will never be able to see them again.
The Catcher in the Rye is an
amazing book for the simple fact that J.D. Salinger took these issues that most
people have when confronted with adulthood and death. The novel talks about how
when children find out about things they do not understand- such as curse words
and death- it bothers them. One of the biggest indicators that Holden is not
ready to grow up is how afraid of death he is. Holden is a timeless character
that every person can relate to at one point or another in their life.
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