Holden Caulfield rejects the phonies of society. He is the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, a book by J.D. Salinger. He associates the word ‘phonies’ with anyone he dislikes. The ‘phonies’ being adults, friends and most of society itself, that don’t have innocence. Right now, he seems to be on a never-ending carousel ride, the ones where you must reach for a ring whilst riding it, to win a prize. But Holden rejects that and instead stays on the ride whilst stopping others from getting it as well. The ring represents maturity, and everyone else on the ride an innocent child. Thus, this becomes one of Holden’s biggest motivations to be The Catcher in the Rye. His fantasy to ‘catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff’, into adulthood. He does this because he doesn’t want the kids to turn into phonies. I believe this is because he values innocence as the most important virtue. Throughout Holden’s entire life, he has faced many traumas; two of the main ones being death and being let down by others. Therefore, this affects Holden in such a way, that he decides to “protect” the kids from falling off the cliff. But society doesn’t agree with this, instead claims that Holden is immature. I also believe this because not only is Holden dreaming a fantasy that would never happen, but he is also holding the kids back from facing the real world. But from Holden’s point of view, he is in fact doing good for the children.
Catching children that are about to fall of the cliff has always been Holden Caulfield’s fantasy. Falling into adulthood is something Holden has never accepted. Partly because he’s afraid of the responsibilities of growing up (which I can relate to), but also due to the traumas he has gone through. One of them, was when his younger brother Allie, ‘got leukemia and died’. Allie was one of the biggest representations of innocence in Holden’s life. He almost still doesn’t accept the fact that Allie is dead, highlighting his immaturity. Similarly, when I was younger, one of my family members died. As a little kid, I still couldn’t accept death, just like Holden. So, this provides Holden a big motivation to protect innocence. This is similar to the main characters in the book To Kill a Mocking Bird, by Harper Lee. The main characters in this book are innocent but are later on exposed to death, similar to Holden. Another situation was when he was let down by adults. A situation like this in his life, was when Mr. Antolini (his English teacher at his previous school whom he trusted a lot) let him down. Holden, who was spending the night at Mr. Antolini’s house, found himself being patted on the head by him at night. This made Holden lose his trust in Mr. Antolini and so pushes him further to protect innocence; so that kids don’t turn into phonies, almost like Mr. Antolini. The only thing left in Holden’s life that was innocent, was Phoebe, his little sister. I saw countless times in the book where he implies he must protect Phoebe. But even Holden eventually realizes, that he can’t stop Phoebe from growing up. He realizes that ‘the thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything’. I agree with Holden and everyone else when it comes to this. I personally think that it’s a little selfish of Holden to stop the kids from growing up and facing the adult world. But I partly agree with him when he calls society ‘phonies’ since the kids are being forced to grow up.
Growing up is more like the roller coaster ride after the carousel. This ride is the transition between childhood and adolescence. Holden Caulfield gets on this ride without the ticket, without the golden ring. He grows up, regardless if he’s mature or not. For most of us, this ride is a thrilling experience as life moves on fast. But Holden stays exactly in the middle of the ride. He is sitting on the fence, leaning more towards childhood. The social norm is that the youth eventually become mature and eventually adults. This is completely contrast to Holden’s idea on growing up. He completely despises it. So, society doesn’t accept this and immediately labels him as immature. But I think otherwise. Holden is just afraid and has a reason to be. He has gone through many traumas in his life that effect his roller coaster ride. Instead, it would be better off if society provided a softer landing at the bottom of the cliff instead of demanding that the youth be more mature. To provide support for people like Holden who have been scarred from the bumps on their roller coaster ride.
Though society strongly disagrees with Holden, he remains firm where he stands. He stands alone, unable to accept the norm that growing up is a part of life and eventually, everyone must lose their innocence. But Holden has met certain people that makes him decide otherwise. Anyone who is mature, according to Holden, is a phony. This is mostly since he has been let down by these “grownups”, throughout his entire life. Most of us, know our parents to be one of the most trustworthy adults in our life. But Holden doesn’t have this kind of support. Ever since Allie’s death, he has gotten more and more distant from his parents. Afterwards, when looked to his final hope of guidance, Mr. Antolini, he was let down by him as well. Holden carry’s this feeling of betrayal and loneliness and uses it to fuel his fantasy. His ideas contrast against society, but I side with Holden when it comes to this. I know the feeling of being let down by others; it causes excruciating pain when you know that no one is on your side. I can relate a little bit to Holden and his madness. He has been through a lot and knows he doesn’t want it to happen to others. So, this throws him into a frenzy about protecting innocence and detesting adulthood. To “protect” the children from this.
To summarize, Holden Caulfield has a fantasy which will never come true. Though his intentions are more correct than the social norms, his actions betray it. Holden Caulfield is in some ways right, but in the end, will never become The Catcher in the Rye.
