Catcher in the Rye- Themes

Early in the book Catcher in the Rye, we could tell that Holden was afraid of growing up. He did not want to lose the innocence of childhood and he definitely did not want to enter the world of adulthood, which he views as superficial and phony. We can see this fear come to life when Holden visits the Museum of Natural History. Demonstrated through the statues of the Indians he sees, we are shown that Holden is afraid of change. He thinks to himself about how these statues never change, but everyone else does. Everyone becomes wiser and changes both physically and mentally, and the thought of those changes frightens Holden. Although Holden never admits to being afraid of growing up, we can see his fear of maturity through the way he criticizes adults. I do agree with Holden on the way that he thinks the though of growing up is very overwhelming, but I do not agree with the way he is dealing with it. He is protecting himself from this by creating a shield criticism toward the adult world, but by doing this he is only cutting himself off from the outside world. I think the best way the author describes what Holden is looking for in his childhood is when we see Holden's fantasy. He imagines his childhood as a large field of rye that all the children can just run around and play in, and he thinks that adulthood is so bad it is equivalent to death. I think the theme in this book is that going from childhood to adulthood can be a very scary thing, but everyone has to go through it. I know that when I think about leaving my family and all my friends to go off to college I become very overwhelmed and scared, but then I just have to remember that everyone has to do it at some point in life and then it becomes so much less scary.

Bibliography

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.