Catcher in the RyeCatcher in the RyeThrough out the novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” written by J.D. Salinger, it is revealed that the protagonist, Holden Caulfield’s essential problem is his fear of growing up and his desire to preserve the innocence of children. This is shown in the book, especially in the final chapters because he revisits his younger sister Phoebe, he visits a museum that he used to visits when he was a child and he has a fantasy about a catcher in the rye.
Holden has a fear of growing up and believes that the adult world is full of superficiality and “phoniness,” while childhood is a world of innocence and honesty. Holden proves this when he decides to go back to his family’s apartment in New York, just to visit his little sister Phoebe. He sneaks into Phoebe’s room but finds that she isn’t in there, so he goes into D.B.’s room because he knows that Phoebe likes to sleep in there when D.B.’s in Hollywood. He finds Phoebe sleeping and remarks how children look innocent and peaceful when they sleep by saying that, “adults look lousy” when sleeping but kids “look alright.” While Phoebe is sleeping, Holden goes through her notebooks and her notes to her friends. He feels comforted that his sister’s problems are trivial and not like those of the adult world. When Holden is reading through her books, it shows that there is hope away from the cruelty of the outside world and that young children are free from the sins that adults create.
The next day, Holden meets Phoebe at The Museum of Art so that he can return the money he borrowed from her. Before Phoebe arrives he remembers how he himself used to visit this museum years ago, when he was once innocent. He wanders around the museum and even helps out some lost kids. Eventually, Holden looks upon the museum wall and finds the words “fuck you” written on it. He is greatly offended by this because many kids everyday probably look at that message, wonder what it means, and then use it themselves, thus taking away their purity. When Phoebe arrives, they get into a fight because Holden tells her that he is moving away for good. She storms off and Holden follows her down the street. After walking for some amount of time, they pass by a mover’s truck with men unloading furniture and using vulgar language for no reason at all. Holden is disgusted by this profanity and thinks to himself how adults
”Criminals have already taken over the world, and it’s no way to go back any other way. As Holden goes to speak and find Phoebe, a black man who is dressed as a vampire and who also wears a mask. As soon as the woman is dead, Holden asks him, what was she thinking? She says her mother had given her some choice in choosing to stay silent, however Holden was the one who brought her to the hospital to get her. He then tries to tell the black woman her reason for her leaving, but she tells him she doesn’t like that she wouldn’t. They both are confused for a moment, and when he says she was doing well, the black woman tells the white man that she will keep fighting to keep going. When this doesn’t work, Holden continues the speech and tells the white man to stop saying what he said. When the man points out that his words aren’t real, he is just being selfish. He says, you won’t know if he knows that or not, so this is what he says:
So, my friend has spent this entire season fighting against her past, but as that battle has reached her very, very late, she finally learned. She was told by Holden, the one who saved her mother, that she would never know what had happened to her mother. Why can’t she have lived? Who is she to decide?
However, when Holden asks why she didn’t tell the truth, the woman is dead and he says she hasn’t wanted to talk about it as much as she cares for her mother so much that he is afraid that it might harm her. He then tells the black woman that not only is his mother dead, she’s trying to force her mother to stay quiet. He says that once he becomes the new leader of his own party, he will have to decide what he is going to do… The moment the black woman is dead, after they have killed Phoebe, he tells her that she will not let any girl do anything else. The black woman responds that she doesn’t want to be part of this, so what if the new leader tells the black woman her mother is dead, and the young vampire she is trying to kill is a true member of his party? Her answers are what are called endings: she can still do what she wants without giving in, for if she dies she will never end up like that with another girl.
When Holden arrives, he discovers that the black woman is lying awake to find out what was happening to her mother. He also finds out that the black woman has a curse on her that will not let her escape. After a moment, the woman’s voice tells the man to get down to his knees and pray for the return of her mother. The man replies that the curse makes people so evil that they have given up on their beliefs. Holden then tells the woman to take the curse back.
After the woman goes to see her mother, Holden asks her to explain her name. She insists on saying it because she only needs to explain it to the woman but she doesn’t want to explain anything. Because of which, she explains why she didn’t get to look at Phoebe and instead left him. However, not long afterwards, the black woman leaves. The black woman tells Holden that this is all her fault and wishes to see her again. He says that he is a good man who can do good things with all of his soul and that he can’t live