Characterization Develops
Themes & Symbolism
The major themes of a novel reflect the values and
motivations of the characters.
A major theme of the novel is the protection of innocence,
especially of children.
It is very closely related to his struggle against growing
up. The people he admires all represent or protect
innocence.
In contrast, he sees an enemy in all adults. He acts himself
as guardian of all he sees as innocent, as seen in his
treatment of Jane Gallager. He vehemently denies any
sexual relationship to the reader, and is angered when
he thinks of her having to ward off the advances of her
drunken stepfather and Stradlater.
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Holden's hopes to be "the catcher in the rye." In a
description to Phoebe , he pictures a field of rye standing by
a dangerous cliff. Children play in the field with joy and
abandon. If they should come too close to the edge of the
cliff, however, Holden is there to catch them.
This is a naive misinterpretation of the poem’s meaning and
allows the reader to appreciate Holden’s outlook on life and
all that growing up means for him. Growing up for him,
means to lose one’s sense of self and fall into the unknown.
His attitude seems to shift near the end of the novel when he
realizes that Phoebe and other children must be allowed to
"grab for the gold ring," to choose to take their own path
and risks, even though it will be dangerous to them. In this
he reveals he is not the path to accepting “growing up”.
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Instead of acknowledging that adulthood
scares and mystifies him, Holden invents a
fantasy that adulthood is a world of
superficiality and hypocrisy (“phoniness”),
while childhood is a world of innocence,
curiosity, and honesty. The metaphor of the
catcher in the rye: he imagines childhood as an
idyllic field of rye in which children romp and
play; adulthood, for the children of this world,
is equivalent to death—a fatal fall over the
edge of a cliff.
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He sees much of life as a conflict between the authentic and the
artificial, which is directly related to his attitude toward children
and his resistance to the adult world.
When Holden sees the 6-year-old child singing, "If a body catch a
body coming through the rye," he expresses his happiness at
seeing the boy is not trying to please anyone in his performance,
but simply enjoying it for its own sake. Holden feels the same
attribute can be found in D.B.'s short stories as they are his
brother’s private thoughts written not for public appeal or pay.
Another example of an adult who has not “sold out” to popular
demand is the black jazz singer Estelle Fletcher of "Little Shirley
Beans" on the recording that Holden buys for Phoebe. Holden
likes her jazz style, saying she "sings it very Dixieland and
whorehouse, and it doesn't sound at all mushy." He appreciates
that she doesn't cater to the popular sound of the time and avoids
making it "sound cute as hell."
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In contrast, Holden believes that artists who “sell out”
their talents to accommodate what popular demand
dictates are no better than prostitutes. He likens D.B.’s
screenplays for Hollywood to prostitution. The artists
have sold out — for money or fame or just for
applause.
He dislikes what he calls emotional manipulations in
literature. Romance magazines with "lean-jawed guys
named David" and "a lot of phony girls named Linda
or Marcia" usually set Holden to "puking," although he
does sometimes read them on the train.
In all of these examples, he sees a corruption of an
artist’s creativity and value when the artist adapts
his creation to the demands of the audience in the
adult world.
Death is constant mystery for Holden and is present through
the novel through the references Holden's younger brother's
Allie, even though he has been dead for about three years.
• When he thinks of Allie, he is haunted by the thought of Allie
in the rainy cemetery surrounded by tombstones and dead
people. Holden associates death with the changing nature of
time and the inevitability of death.
•He wishes that everything could just stay the way it is, that
time could stand still, especially in times when good things
happen. He compares this notion to the displays under glass at
the museum. Holden does not see that change and aging is
unavoidable. Holden does not recognize that the force he is
conflicting with is not just societal demand but his own
physical body.
•He resists simply growing up, and by the end of the novel the
reader can see that his resistance can only result in disaster.
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Holden is especially sexually confused, particularly
regarding the proper conduct for a young male
adolescent. for example, when he talks about sex and
admits that “[s]ex is something I just don’t understand.
I swear to God I don’t” (Chapter 9).
He has the usual adolescent curiosity but is unsure
about how he should respond to them. He claims to be
a romantic, but admits that he is sexually driven. He
respects what girls say when they ask him to stop
making advances, unlike other boys his age, even
though he has heard the usual rumors that they don't
always mean it. When a girl says she wants to stop,
Holden stops. "No" means "No" for Holden Caulfield.
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During the encounter with Sunny, the
prostitute, Holden decides that he simply does
not want to go through with the act of sex.
While talking later with Carl Luce at the
Wicker Bar, Holden wonders if he needs
psychoanalysis because he has difficulty being
intimate with a girl unless he really cares about
her. Luce lacks the maturity to tell Holden that
these feelings are admirable.
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On the other hand, Holden is unusually concerned
about homosexual males (whom he calls "flits"). He
thinks that all homoerotic behavior is "perverty,"
lumping it together with bestiality (or at least accepting
the fact that Carl Luce has this view). Interestingly, he
is curious how other heterosexual males he respects
(like Carl Luce) view it, and his opinion is often formed
based on their views.
Holden is understandably bothered by Mr. Antolini's
odd behavior at the apartment, he seems to be overreacting to harmless gesture of affection . Salinger is
unclear about the former teacher's motive. The reader
should note that the teacher pats him on the head, and
Holden assumes a sinister motive.
A major theme of "The Catcher in the Rye" is the personal struggle
between conformity and individuality, between selling out and
staying true to yourself and your beliefs.
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As Spence tells Holden at the start of the book, "Life is a game that
has to be played by the rules." Holden's conflicts result from his
unwillingness to conform to the accepted social norms; eventually,
this struggle proves too much and leads to his breakdown.
This theme is also related to his notion that all adults are phony, and
his rejection of this is the root of his fear of growing up. Holden
cites many examples of adults ‘ “phoniness” . But these many
examples serve to prove the point that “conformity” requires that
the person “conform” to the demands of the adult roles which we
all must take on as we mature. The new roles of being an
employee, parent, spouse is a new challenge which forces the
person to “act” outside their normal behavior in order to succeed.
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For unstated reasons, likely rooted in Allie’s death, Holden is
receiving psychological help according his words at the end of
the novel. Throughout the novel, the reader sees that Holden
has trouble forming positive intimate relationships with others.
He alienates everyone in his life in order to isolate himself from
anyone for whom he might care, possibly to remove the risk of
suffering the pain of losing a loved one– which becomes a
means of defending himself.
He isolates himself with purposely resisting the helpful advice
of teachers, and the friendship of roommates at Pencey Hall.
He has opportunities for both physical and emotional intimacy,
but he seems to sabotage these opportunities, and instead
reacts with cynicism and bitterness.
But Holden desperately continues this search for intimacy (ex:
visit to Mr. Antolini, late night visit to Phoebe, calls to old
girlfriends at the hotel room), but constantly rejects the person
at the last moment , usually by offending them in some way.