Theme Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

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Importance of Innocence
Getting older and maturing is a part of life. In growing up, people often lose their innocence. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a troubled teenage boy struggling with his transition from boyhood to manhood. Although he wants to feel more mature, he values innocence. When asked what makes him happy, he replies that he would be happy being a catcher in the rye. Throughout the novel, Holden proves to the readers that he is a already a catcher in the rye through his relentless efforts to preserve innocence.
Holden’s drive to preserve innocence is admirable. Not only does he value the innocence in children, but he desires to save the innocence in adults too. “‘Lawyers are alright, I guess - but …show more content…
All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink martinis like a hot-shot’”(Salinger 190). The idea of saving a person’s innocence appeals to Holden. He admires lawyers who become lawyers to save innocent people’s lives, and despises lawyers who only did it to be credited as a terrific lawyer. Although Holden would like to preserve innocence in everyone, he has a special drive to preserve the innocence in children. While at his little sister Phoebe’s school, he saw something that made his blood boil. “I sat down for a second, and then I felt better. But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Holden’s little brother Allie who passed away from Leukemia at age 11 is the prime example of childhood and innocence. “‘I like Allie,’ I said. ‘And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff, and--’ ‘Allie's dead--You always say that! If somebody's dead and everything, and in Heaven, then it isn't really--’ ‘I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake-- especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all.’” Very few things make Holden happy, but nothing makes him happier than a child’s innocence. “She was a very nice, polite little kid. God, I love it when a kid’s nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most kids are. They really are. I asked her if she’d care to have a hot chocolate or something with me, but she said no, thank you. She said she had to meet her friend. Kids always have to meet their friend. That kills me”(64). Holden finds joy in being around nice little kids. In such a dark world, he finds his escape through surrounding himself with the kindness and innocence of
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