Catcher in the Rye
By Bartek Les
In J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye, the novel tries to capture the adolescent life in a hyper-sensitive form, dramatizing Holden Caulfield as the main character who is known to be a “rebel against society.” Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old boy, believes in protecting the innocent. He strongly believes in saving the innocence of children who yet not know adulthood. Especially the innocence of his little sister because he lost his brother who he believes lost his innocence when he died. Holden wants the innocence of children to be frozen behind that glass just like the figures in the exhibit are preserved in the museum where he goes to find his little sister Phoebe. He tries to play the role of a hero trying to protect the citizens (children) from the monster (adult). Holden doesn’t want to grow up yet because he believes that once you grow up, you become “phony”, a word that Holden uses constantly throughout the book in describing adults and people who are prejudice, hypocrites or insincere, but at the same time he is moving to adulthood yet he doesn’t want to except reality. For example, when Holden shows two boys where the Egyptian section in the museum is located, he finds that he is walking down a dark hallway. The two boys are afraid and run back but Holden continues forward. This represents how Holden is moving forward from childhood into adulthood but the two little boys are not yet ready to make such a move. He’s against the adult world in which he forcefully has to live in and that is why he rebels against the adult world, and society. For trying to make children grow up and for all the “phony” things that surround him. Even if it’s friends, parents, adults, etc. Holden Caulfield is portrayed as a typical teenager who rebels against society, parents, teachers, school, and other adults. Trying to be independent and act like an adult, but adults restrict him. Adults tell teenagers what to do and how to act which Holden doesn’t approve of. Holden rejects the ideas and values that the society sets. Adults in society always place a great emphasis on education, but Holden does not think it is important. As a result, he rebels and does not do his work:
