(Salinger 115). Upon hearing this Holden is immediately comforted and notices that some of his depression is lifted. To Holden, the song conjures images of children playing happily in a huge field of rye near a dangerous cliff. When one of the children, in his merriment, draws close to the cliff’s edge, someone has to catch him before he falls. When Phoebe, Holden’s younger sister, asks Holden what he wants to be, he responds, “I’d just be the catcher in the rye…” (Salinger 173). Children are few people in the world that are not phony in Holden’s eyes (“Catcher in the Rye Holden” 2). The purity of spirit children possess is what Holden holds most precious in a world of hypocrisy and distrust (“Catcher in the Rye Holden” 2). Children hold the same treasure that Allie held within himself, and it is this treasure that Holden seeks to protect. By catching the children before they fall, Holden hopes to save them from the fall into the abyss of disillusionment.
Furthermore, Salinger shows that Holden is also afraid of losing his innocence. With his emerging sexuality Holden constantly feels the fear of losing the piece of himself that he knows he can never replace (“Novel Guide: Character Profiles” 1). This fear is revealed to us through his reoccurring anxiety of disappearing. It is experienced during Holden’s trip to Mr. Spencer’s house after crossing a road. Holden feels like he is “sort of disappearing (Salinger 5). It is this sensation that drives Holden to begin sprinting to his destination to save himself. He again experiences fear while walking the streets of New York. “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street” (Salinger197). Holden panics at the possibility and looks to his dead brother for protection: “Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear. Please, Allie” (Salinger 198). Though Holden does not realized what fuels his terror, Salinger uses this phobia to show the reader Holden’s anxiety when he feels his mortality or innocence threatened. Holden’s fear of and fascination with disappearance is also seen in his curiosity of the winter habits of the ducks in the lagoon. Where do the ducks go is an ongoing symbol in the story. Holden sees their disappearance as similar to the absence and loss of a person after death, as in Allie’s case (“Symbols in The Catcher in the Rye 2). By seeking the answer, Holden searches for a way in which he can find and preserve innocence. Through his searching he finds that the only correct response to disappearance is acceptance.
It is at the turning point of the book that Salinger presents Holden’s newfound acceptance. While watching Phoebe on the merry-go-round, Holden has a revelation. He watches as the children lean off their porcelain steeds to reach for the golden ring on the carrousel. At first Holden experiences fear and anxiety as he sees the children’s precarious position. His instincts urge him to save the children before they fall of the cliff. But despite these strong emotion’s he resists. This restraint comes from the realization that though he wants to protect the children’s innocence he must let them take the risks of life (“Novel Guide: Theme Analysis” 1). Salinger shows the transformation of Holden’s perception of the loss of innocence by introducing Holden’s new metaphor for the event. At the start of his journey his image has morphed into a scene where the child, instead of falling, leans off his horse and reaches for the golden ring.
Holden begins his journey as a crusader for the innocent, and though he has not given up his fight altogether, he has come to term with his lost. The death of his brother proved to be one of the most traumatic events in Holden’s life and is the catalyst for his resistance to inevitable disillusionment. Fighting both the phoniness of the world and even his own budding sexuality, Holden attempts to prevent the inevitable. Only through his relationship with Phoebe and the epiphany at the carrousel that Holden finally comprehends that he cannot save the innocent; they must be allowed to take life’s risks and reach for the golden ring. In this same way Holden must approach his own changes. Holden’s journey comes to a close as he continues to watch the children on the merry-go-round. At the moment in the rain, he experiences inexplicable joy because he is allowed to partake in a moment so pure that it is completely untouched or contaminated by the ugliness of the world. Salinger ends Holden’s story on a hopeful note, showing how Holden’s odyssey has altered his view on life. Where previously there was scorn for the phoniness of the world, Holden expresses a longing for Stradlater, Maurice and Ackley, its representatives.
