The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a struggling teenager, gets kicked out of his school and discovers what life means to him, to not grow up. He invents a fantasy that adulthood is a world of "phoniness," which is made up of falsehood and deception, while childhood is a world of innocence. Because adulthood is full of deception and phoniness, Holden wishes to be the

Catcher in the Rye". "The Catcher in the Rye" portrays how Holden is a struggling teenage boy that does not want to grow up nor does he want other children and teenagers his age to become adults as well.

Holden does not want any children and teenagers in his generation to grow up. He wants to save them from falling off of a cliff into adulthood. When talking to his sister, Phoebe, Holden has a foresight of what he wants to be when he grows up. He visions, "...All these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them...I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all... that's the only thing I'd really like to be" (224-225). Holden can only think of one job he would enjoy doing when he grows up, to be the "Catcher in the Rye," saving children from growing up. Holden does not want to grow up, and wants to save others in his generation from doing so. It is obvious Holden does not want to grow up because he states being the "Catcher in the Rye" would be the only job he would enjoy as an adult. This is unrealistic because the "Catcher in the Rye" is not even a real job. Another instance when Holden discusses what he thinks about childhood, he describes how children are polite and well mannered. "God, I love it whena kid's nice and polite and when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most Kids are. They really are" (155). Holden is convinced children are polite. He believes their innocence is a key aspect in a child's life. Holden deems children are nice and only tries to be around them. When he is around children, he feels a sense of happiness, but when he is with adults, he feels depressed. In addition, another occurrence when Holden discusses innocence with Children is when he sees bad words on the walls at his sister's school. "[He] Saw something that drove [him] crazy. Somebody'd written, 'Fuck you' on the wall. It drove [him] damn near crazy. [He] thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them - all cockeyed, naturally - what it meant, and how they'd think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. [He] kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it" (260). Holden believes innocence is important in life. He is happy when he sees children that are nice and innocent,