Catcher in the Rye Essay: The Innocence of Holden -- Catcher Rye Essay

The Innocence of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye   In J. D. Salingers story The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, spends several days wandering around unfermented York. During this time, he learns many things about himself. He seems to submit some sort of intellectual problem, but this problem fortunately begins to be less serious by the end of the story. But more interesting that the things he knows about himself are the things he does not know about himself. Holden is constantly holding children on a pedestal and dismissing adults as phonies. Holden, though he does not know it, subconsciously protects the whiteness of childhood within his mind.   In the book, Holden constantly reminisces about Jane Gallagher, a friend of his that he met a few summers ago in Maine. The day that Holden leaves Pencey, Stradlater tells him that he is departure on a date with Jane. Upon hearing this, Holden says to Stradlater   ...I practised to play checkers w ith her all the time. You used to play what with her all the time? Checkers. Checkers, for Chrissake Yeah. She wouldnt move any of her kings. What shed do, when shed build up a king, she wouldnt move it. Shed just leave it in the back row. Shed get them all lined up in the back row. Then shed never use them. She just liked the way the looked when they were all in the back row. (31-32)   Holden later becomes jealous of Stradlater when he suspects that he had sex with Jane. As Holden later wanders around New York, many times he has an impulse to call Jane but does not. He never gives a reason, but subconsciously, he realizes that if he calls Jane, he will have to face a new person, who may have lost the innocence of a girl who plays ch... ... in his life to stay the same, for this keeps things simpler. Holdens need for simplicity also translates into a need for wide-eyed, childlike innocence. This worldview is simpler than the cynical, materialistic, experienced worldview of th e adults Holden knows. This is why Holden prefers for people to stay innocent, and why he subconsciously protects that innocence.   Holden views the world of adults as a harsh, unforgiving place. He realizes that he has been forced into this world against his will and this has hurt him. Subconsciously, he strives to keep children out of this world for as long as possible, and serves as a withstander of innocence within his own mind. While he does not protect this innocence in the external world, within his mind he longs to keep children from reaching adulthood and to preserve the naïveté of childhood for them.