Catcher In The Rye The Quest For

children who are falling off a cliff of a rye field. This symbolizes the need

for Holden to care for children and to save them from the loss of innocence. In

his narratives, Holden reveals many individuals who need catching, and many that

have already fallen. He went to the house of an old teacher, Mr. Spencer,

“….But I just couldn’t hang around there any longer, the way we

were on opposite sides of the pole, and the way he kept missing

the bed whenever he chucked something at it, and his sad old

bathrobe with his chest showing, and that grippy smell of Vicks

Nose Drops all over the place” (Salinger 15),

and he was sickened by his appearance. The depressing ambiance of the room,

along with the sheer rotting-outlook of the room just plain disgusts Holden.

This is the first realization of the fact that adulthood made Mr. Spencer the

way he is today. Holden wonders how it would be different for these various

people if someone had loved them through their innocence. These thoughts

eventually lead him to the yearning to be a catcher in the rye.

Another child that has fallen, and still is falling is a neighbor of

Holden’s, Old Robert Ackley. He has horrible hygiene and an annoying curiosity,

in that

“He started walking around the room, very slow and all, the way he

always did, picking up your personal stuff off your desk and

chiffonier. He always picked up our personal stuff and looked at

it. Boy, could that get on your nerves sometimes” (Salinger 20).

This is the first symbolism of an elder having supremacy over him. It is just

another depressing sight of adulthood. Holden believes that if there had

been someone to catch such stray children from the rye, their lives would be

somewhat different.

Another character in Holden’s life that has fallen from the cliff, Ward

Stradlater, is his own roommate. Stradlater is an older individual than Holden

and is more mature in certain aspects. Holden constantly describes him as ?sexy?.

?I kept thinking of Jane, and about Stradlater having a date with her and all.

It made me so nervous I nearly went crazy. I already told you what a sexy

bastard Stradlater was? (Salinger 34). This illustrates the sexual maturity of

Stradlater. Later, Holden tries to experience his own heightening of sexual

maturity with a prostitute, but he realizes that he is not ready for it. He is

not ready to fall off of that specific cliff just yet. Stradlater is also a very

conceited individual. In a conversation, Holden addresses a thought of Jane, ?

‘….If she’d known (about Stradlater’s ?sexiness?), she probably would’ve

signed out for nine thirty in the morning.’ ‘Goddam right,’ Stradlater said. You

couldn’t rile him too easily. He was too conceited.? (Salinger 34). This is

still another example of an adult’s egotism and a possible success if he was

caught at an earlier age.

There is, finally, another example that personifies the sheer existence of

a troubled soul, who has fallen way past a cliff, but into the deep, engulfing

abyss!! This character is Old Maurice, a pimp, ready to con anyone, manipulate

anyone, and do any impure act possible to anyone. Holden, with his ignorant

foolishness, accepts a con for him to sleep with one of Old Maurice’s

prostitutes. Later, Holden realizes that he is being conned out of an extra five

dollars. When he argues about the money, Old Maurice, with his own sense of

superiority beats up on poor, innocent, little Holden. Holden retaliates,

“I was so damn mad and nervous and all. ‘You’re a dirty moron,’

I said. ‘You’re a stupid chiseling moron, and in about two years

you’ll be one of those scraggy guys that come up to you on the

street and ask for a dime for coffee” (Salinger 103).

This is when Old Maurice’s ego starts to bleed and he beats up on Holden much

more. Old Maurice is the quintessence of a bully, having fallen off a cliff

at an early age, probably having been beaten at home, having lost his

innocence too early, and many other phony adult symptoms. Holden realizes

that Old Maurice is not too different from Stradlater, who also beat him

senseless in another meeting. These are examples of a lack of love through

their adolescent years.

Finally, there is one aspect in Holden’s life that pushes him over the

cliff of realization, giving him a new light of seeing the many contours of his

life. This theme was suggested in an earlier passage in Phoebe’s school,

Holden’s old school, where there is a certain profanity that is unacceptible to

younger children. Holden tries desperately to rub off the word, and eventually

succeeds in doing so. However, this leads him to an insignificant realization

of the futility of trying to rub off all the curses in the world, or ?catching

children in the rye?. Later, at a museum, he experiences a double dose of

disgusting nausea. ?That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place

that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. You may think there is but

once you get there, when you’re not looking, somebody’ll sneak up and write

‘Fuck You’ right under your nose? (Salinger 203). He catches a glimpse of this

phrase carved into a monument inside the museum. The museum that he depends on

to be sacred and always pure, turns out to have such a horrid word!! Also, the

word is carved into the stone, so it is actually impossible for Holden to

actually rub it out. This scene, with Holden nearly fainting and nauseated, is

the turning point of Holden’s life, bringing an end to the dream of being the ?

catcher in the rye?. It gives him a sharp and bitter realization that everyone

in the world can not be caught, and it is futile to try to catch a child from

the cliff of adult maturity.

Holden Caulfield is a very concerned and caring individual, thrust into a

world of ?phoniness? and ?adult immaturity?. This world gives him a pressure so

great that he does not know how to react to the various aspects of his life. He

feels an overwhelming urge to love people, seek others’ love, and to care for

people that do not have the love that he has. This leads to his dream of being

a ?catcher in the rye?. However, as his life progresses, many occurences drive

him to a state of confusion and mental turmoil. He does not know how to handle

the radical changes in his life. The harsh realizations in theses few days of

his life give him a new perspective in his once secure world. He realizes that

caring, not catching, is needed in the preservation of innocence. Catching some

children in the rye merely saves a select number of individuals, for a little

period of time. It is Holden’s realization that children are destined to fall

from innocence and it is futile for him to try to change it otherwise.