Catcher in the rye and loss of innocence
...lurts out that he is a virgin during his description of his encounter with Sunny, the prostitute. Through his bluntness of the matter, he frees himself of the notion that he has to be macho or phony. Perhaps the most innocent place of all, to Holden, is the Museum of Natural History. He remembers the trips he used to make there as a kid and longs for those innocent times. However, later on Holden comes to find the words “fuck you” written under glass at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and causes him to conclude that, “You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful because there isn’t any” (Salinger, 166). This epiphany is part of his transformation into realizing that he can not save the world. Ultimately, through a number of examples, many more than are illustrated here, it is established the Holden is in many ways still an innocent child even though he is out in New York City all alone. Perhaps it is not the innocence of others he wishes to protect, but his own childhood innocence which he would rather not let go of and struggles to maintain. Holden’s desire to maintain this innocence is most clearly defined in his vision of becoming the “catcher in the rye”. He imagines a number of children playing in a field of rye which sits high upon a cliff. As the unsuspecting and preoccupied children may run dangerously close to the cliffs edge, Holden envisions himself there to catch them and turn them away from the danger and once again toward their childhood bliss. This is ultimately Holden’s dream as he tries to find solace in an adult world molded around misdirection and contempt. The question must be asked: who is he trying to save and does he succeed? Holden views himself as isolated from the phoniness of the adult world. Yet, he acts and says things which suggest he is not as removed from those things he detests as he might believe. He makes many references to “messing” with people qualifying it as something that has to be done in order to get by. Holden also criticizes his older brother, D.B., for writing for Hollywood movies and suggests that he to is phony. Contradictory to that however, on a few separate occasions Holden envisions himself in a movie and plays out the actions of a character that has been shot in the stomach. These contradictions in actions and preaching suggest that Holden is not as pure as he wishes himself to be and that his bitterness is really toward himself. Another symbol of innocence for Holden is his younger brother Allie. Dying of leukemia three years before the start of the novel, Allie if frozen in Holden’s mind as intelligent, genuine, and friendly; a perfect example of an individual not scarred by the adult world. Holden sometimes talks to Allie when he is in distress, and this on-going dialogue illustrates Holden’s inability to let go of his youth and is ideals of innocence and enter the adult world he so strenuously struggles to avoid. Phoebe Caulfield, Holden’s younger sister, is the most influential character on Holden and represents the vision of innocence Holden wishes to cherish. The relationship Holden has is established through his multiple conjectures concerning Phoebe, even at unsuspecting times. Often he refers to her in the middle of another thought or as evidence to confirm a statement. After a few nights in the city, he decides to sneak home and visit Phoebe. We see then that Holden and Phoebe truly have a close relationship and that only Phoebe can really connect with Holden. When she demands that Holden tell her something he really likes his only response is that he likes Allie and sitting, talking to Phoebe. We see here how Holden feels more comfortable relating to children and that he cherishes the simple and innocent world of his childhood. Through most of the novel Holden truly holds the thought that he can change the world; protect the innocent against corruption, and rid the world of the phonies. Or, at the very least he feels he needs to try. While meeting with Sally Hayes, a very attractive ex-girlfriend, he asks, “Did you ever get fed up?... I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something?” (Salinger, 130) He obviously has a desire to change the nature of things, or at least run from the nature of things and become a deaf-mute, as he suggests. This is Holden’s main struggle and could very well be his ultimate demise. He decides that he is going to run away out west in hopes of escaping the confines of his own mind and the turmoil the world puts him under. There is a lot of different opinion concerning whether or not Holden Caulfield takes a step forward at the end of the novel. (Lomazoff, 1996) There is no real change in the dialogue of the character or content of his speech. This is why some consider the story to be one with a tragic ending as there is no real closure or maturation of the main protagonist. We learn at the end of the novel that Holden did in fact go home. He was sent to a rest home for recovery and he will be attending a new prep school in the fall. He states that he intends on applying himself this time, but the merits of such a claim remain rather ambiguous. He also refuses to continue with his story and states that he half way regrets having revealed so much. This comes as a disappointment to the reader because it seems as if Holden still runs from communication and thus still isolates himself from others. He mentions that if you talk about people you, “start missing everybody” (Salinger, 214) This final statement may indicate that he is still holding on to events of his past and thus is having trouble moving forward. While this point of view is embraced by some critics, there is another more optimistic one as well. Some feel that Holden Caulfield does in fact make progress and that there are subtle events which indicate so (French, 151). Toward the end of the novel we begin to see a shift in Holden. He begins to realize that he may not be capable of stopping all the corruption in the world. It is his final encounters with Phoebe, and an awkward night with Mr. Antolini, which initiate this change in Holden while also informing the reader of it. To believe that such a transformation does not exist is too narrow a perspective as the evidence to suggest one are many and concrete. Phoebe’s first impact on Holden was when he went to visit her at his house. She attacks Holden’s ideals at their very imaginative core: the notion of the catcher in the rye. She points out that the lyric does not sing, “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye,” but instead utters, “If a body meet a body comin’ through the rye.’ This signifies Phoebe’s more grounded perspective and her ability to contest Holden’s cynicism and narrow perspective by offering a straightforward and unbiased interjection. After a night at Mr. Antolini we see Holden’s steady convictions waver for a moment. After waking up from an exhausted sleep, Holden finds Mr. Antolini sitting next to him patting his head. Immediately assuming the worst, Holden jumps from the couch and runs out the door. At first, Holden assumes that Mr. Antolini has made an inappropriate pass at him, but as he examines his teacher and the situation more carefully he concludes that this may not be the case. Perhaps, Holden wonders, Mr. Antolini was not making a pass but just likes patting people’s heads while they sleep. Holden considers a positive side, or at least an alternative to his usual brisk judgment calls. We see that his hard exterior of uncompromising assumptions is beginning to dissolve, if even for a short moment. Another instance which serves as a catalyst for Holden’s transformation is as he enters Phoebe’s school. There to drop off a note to Phoebe as to inform her of his decision to move away, he notices “Fuck You” written on the hallway wall. To Holden, this symbolizes the fact that the adult world has begun to overtake the innocent child world. Completely turned off b...