Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Catcher in the Rye Blog 15


Innocence is another theme addressed in The Catcher in the Rye.  Holden is by no means innocent, but he wants to protect others from making the same mistakes he did.  His dream job of the “catcher in the rye” does just that.  He wants to save children, specifically Allie and Phoebe from the pain of the real world.  Holden does not realize that this is impossible since Allie is already dead, and Phoebe will have to grow up too.  In a way Phoebe is more mature than him because she understands this concept.  Holden insists upon the idea that innocence and youth is not the same thing.  In this quote about the museum, he explains that views change because experiences change the person involved.  "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 […]. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat on this time. Or that kid that was your partner in line last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a substitute taking the class, instead of Miss Aigletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some way – I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it.” (Salinger 121).  Holden had grown out of his innocence, but he believed that it was possible to stay innocent and still grow up.    
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

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