Saving Children’s From Losing Their Innocence in Catcher in the Rye
The catcher in the rye means to save children from losing their innocence. That is what Holden believed that catcher in the rye meant. The main character who is confused and disillusioned searches for truth and rails against the phoniness of the adult world.
He felt that adult behavior was phony. Holden would fantasize of himself being a hero like a lot of young children do, he would fantasize about saving children playing in a field of rye by keeping the from falling off a cliff and descending into the world of adults. He felt that this world was not a world of growth but was a world of loss disappointment and hypocrisy. This book portrays the large fear of growing up and is unsettling to read.
The book is read by mostly teenagers and can be confusing because it goes between adolescence and adulthood and it was assigned to kids in school because of its optimistic ending. Witch was taught to teach adolescent readers that pushing people away is a phase. In the book holden has the mindset of an adult and is quick to become emotional. Holden the main character did not intend for the novel to be seen as his life story. He recalled what happened to him that previous Christmas that is how the story became the basis for his narrative. Holden is actually irresponsible and immature and cannot keep his grads up and ends up falling out of several classes. Holden sees childhood as the ideal state of being and believes that adulthood is full of corrupt people and believes the only way we can win in the adult world is if the cards are stacked in our favor.
Children do not think much of appearance but in the adult world n order to be respected you must always, look, think, talk, act and dress your best. In the novel as long as he felt good about himself he did not care what other people think which in todayr’s world I dont see where thatr’s all together a bad thing. A long time ago men, women and children were expected to do specific things and act certain ways. The father went out and worked he mother stayed home and the children went to school and came straight home. They did chores helped with dinner and other things of that nature. There wasnt much time for play between chores dinner and homework. As the years went on children would move through their childhood with not a care and didnt waste a second enjoying it. Before long parents started pushing children to be more adult like wanting them to figure out what an accomplishments they were looking for in life. They have to start figuring out what career path they want to take, do they want a family maybe go to the service, and their childhood at that point starts fading, they are no longer care free and worry free. A whole new world starts to present its self. Children today are raised a lot different than back then so in some ways itr’s hard to pick the book apart and to define its meaning as a whole.
Children should be worry free and care free and they should remain innocent and I think thatr’s why Holden felt the way he did children should not be forced to grow up any faster than theyre supposed to the should be worry free and be kids as long as they can and Holden had a better perspective of that than most kids his own age. Some parents do have an off the wall mindset when it comes to their children. They push them too hard, sometimes into being something they dont want to be. Children should be given the chance to be children and grow into the people they want to be and do the things they want to do and make their own decisions as they grow up. Not every child wants to follow in their parents footsteps choosing the same profession or same style of clothes or acquiring the same mindset.
