Summary:
When innocent children merrily play in the rye, they can unintentionally plummet over the cliff. Holden, due to the loss of his beloved brother Allie, has become a "catcher" of children.
A Mind Hitting Rock Bottom
"Blessed is he that shepard's the weak through the valley of darkness for he is
truly his brother's keeper and the Savoir of lost children." This passage extracts exactly
what Holden Caulfield's ambition in life is. When innocent children
merrily play in the rye, they can unintentionally plummet over the cliff. Holden, due to
the loss of his beloved brother Allie, has become a "catcher" of children. In the
beginning of the novel, Holden has been informed of his expulsion from Pencey Prep
School. But what scares him the most is his parents reaction, for he has already been
expelled from other educational institutions. After being beaten by his roommate,
Holden no longer can stand to stay in the dormitory. Hence, he sets out on a quest,
seeking for the truth. Holden, at the conclusion of the novel, has become more
understanding of the death of Allie, as well as being more accepting of people and their
flaws, he knows know that children must be allowed to mature.
It was too late for Holden to call a cab so he decided just to walk to the subway
station. While riding on the bus a woman named Mrs. Morrow started up a conversation
with Holden. She actually noticed the sticker he had on one of his Gladstone's. Holden
had already stereotyped her, assuming she is like every other phony adult. However, the
further he got into conversation with her the more he actually liked her. "Mothers are
slightly insane. The thing is, though, I liked old Morrow's mother, she was all right."
(Salinger, 55) This perhaps was the seconded most acceptable adult to Holden, next to
old Spencer. ."..just because he was a nice old guy..." (Salinger, 8) This is Holden's first
two examples of him finally beginning to accept adults for who they are and not who he
assumes they are.
Just when Holden is starting to feel as though adults are acceptable, he gets
rejected by the taxi driver. "Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a
cocktail? On me. I'm loaded.' 'Can't do it, Mac. Sorry." (Stalinger, 60) Holden follows
that by a sarcastic remark about the man, "He certainly was good company. Terrific
personality."(Stalinger, 61) Holden had put his hunting cap on during his taxi drive,
perhaps the hunting cap was what made his stay positive towards the taxi driver. After
being dropped off at the hotel, Holden decided to go down to the Lavender room, it was a
nightclub that the hotel had. While sitting there, Holden noticed three women in the table
near him, they looked as though they were thirty. Holden asked one of them to dance.
He was very impressed with her dance moves. "you really can dance,' I told the blonde
one. 'You oughta be a pro. I mean it. I danced with a pro once, and you're twice as good
as she was. Did you ever hear of Marco and Miranda"' 'What"' she said. She wasn't
even listening to me. She was looking all over the place." (Stalinger, 71) That was
Holden's second attempt to become friendly with adults, and the second time he got
rejected, just proving Holden's theory that all adults are phonies.
As a result, Holden is feeling dislocated, as though he does not belong anywhere,
and he is right. Each time Holden extends himself, he is rewarded with rejection.
Having nowhere to turn, Holden's mind travels back to Jane Gallagher. He remembers
the time he and Jane were playing chess and her step-father, Mr. Cudahy, came and
interrupted their game by forcing Jane to tell him where cigarettes were. Jane
did not respond him, she just ignored him. This set him off even more but Jane
continued to ignore him. Eventually he returned back into the house, before Holden
knew it, Jane began to cry. This is the first time we see Holden actually take advantage
of a girl. He ."..practically sat down in her lap, as a matter of fact. Then she really
started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over..." (Stalinger, 79)
Holden took advantage of a girl in distraught. This is where we can know that is corrupt.
Holden redeemed himself when he met up with Sunny. She was a prostitute that
holden had bought. While lingering in the hotel room Holden couldn't help but notice
how young the girl was. When she took her dress off Holden wasn't feeling right, he
was feeling uncomfortable. "I know you're supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody
gets up and pulls their dress over their head, but I didn't. Sexy was about the last thing I
was feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy." (Stalinger, 95) The girl was so
young and so nervous. Holden could not do this with this young girl. He was becoming
depressed because he was realizing that there are young people in the world who are
corrupt and he doesn't like it one bit.
"Boy I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can't imagine." (Stalinger,98) Due
to this depressed state, Holden begins talking aloud to Allie. Allie is Holden's brother
who died of leukemia; Holden is extremely affected by the loss. Holden kept telling
Allie to go get his bike and met him in front of The Fallon's house. Holden once told
Allie that he could not come with him to the lake on their bikes. Holden says he only
talks to Allie like this when he is extremely depressed. Holden decided that he wanted to
pray but he just couldn't. "Anyway, when I was in bed, I couldn't pray worth a damn."
(Stalinger,100) Somewhere deep down in Holden heaped up heart he knows he can pray
and find peace. But he just cant seem to get himself to actually say a prayer.
Holden has come so very close to finally verbalizing what has been bothering
him. He has not been holding back, it is just that he does not know for himself. Holden
ran into some nuns, which he sums up in a curious way: "That's what I liked about those
nuns. You could tell, for one thing, that they never went anywhere swanky for lunch. It
made me so damn sad when I thought about it, they're never going anywhere swanky for
lunch or anything." (Stalinger, 112) Holden has a self-contradiction, when he says this.
What he likes about them is the same thing that makes him sad. This is a hint to why
Holden is so troubled. He is unable to enjoy anything because nothing is perfect. The
result is that even good things make him sad. Holden is starting to figure out that the
world does not value the same things he does. There is a gap- between the ways of the
world and the ways of Holden's head. Furthermore, Holden is not having much luck
bridging that gap.
While walking down the streets, a six-year-old boy passes Holden singing the
song "Comin' Through the Rye." The lyrics the boy is singing, "If a body catch a body
comin' though the rye."(Salinger, 115) " It made me feel better. It made me feel not so
depressed any more." (Salinger, 115) Merely the sight of a child enjoying himself in his
own little world, causes Holden to be lifted out of his depression. This is a great example
where we can see how important children are to him. After this small event Holden
decided to go to the park, perhaps Phoebe would be there. When he get to the park he
has a strange symptom that seems to be an indication of a serious physical or mental
illness. Holden is referring to the park when he says, "It made you depressed, and every
once in a while, for no reason, you got goose flesh hen you walked." (Salinger, 118) The
"gooseflesh" is maybe his feeling that he's about to disappear or he's suddenly feeling
dizzy. These symptoms come with no warning, and Holden talks about them
nonchalantly, as though they happen to everyone.
Holden runs into a little girl who happened to be a friend of Phoebe. Holden
helps her tighten her skates. By doing this and her thanking, him make him very happy.
The young girl informs Holden that Phoebe could possibly be at the American Museum
of Natural History, so Holden heads down there. Holden, on his way to the Museum,
talks about the museum and everything that is in there. He recalls all of this from his
childhood. The Museum represents his childhood. "I loved that damn museum."
(Salinger,120) he says. One of the things he means is that he loved the way the world
was (or the way he perceived the world) when he was a child. "The best thing, though, in
that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was...Certain thing they
should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass
cases and just leave them alone." (Salinger, 121) Holden realizes that it is impossible to
preserve things like that.
Holden talks about how each time you would go to the museum nothing
would change, the only thing that had changed was you. He thinks about himself going
and growing older and then Pheobe going and changing. "It didn't exactly depress me to
think about it," he says, "but it didn't make me feel gay as hell, either." (Salinger, 121)
Holden realizes that his life is progressing and he is growing older. He knows the same
thing will happen to Phoebe but he does not like to think about it. Right before Holden
got to the museum he saw two kids on a seesaw, one a little skinny kid and the other a big
fat kid, he decided to help them out. "You could tell they didn't want me around, so I let
them alone." (Salinger, 122) This is something that touches Holden's heart, but he
chooses not to comment on it. Holden seems to be having a love towards children
continue to grow and grow and grow. He seems to be sharing the same feelings a parent
would have towards their child. He's gaining a knowledge that they can't do everything
they'd like to do for their children, that they have to let them do as much as possible by
themselves. This is what is keeping Holden form helping the children, no matter how
much he'd like to.
Holden closed by saying "I'm sorry I told so may people about it. About all I
know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for
instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody
anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." (Salinger, 214) Holden seems to have
resolved his fears of seeing his loved ones change and grow. Although he has resolved
this problem in his life, does not mean that he no longer has problems. Holden still has a
communicating problem with people. Once he told his story he says that it was pointless
in telling, which it was not. Holden has more accepting of people and their flaws. His
realization that Phoebe will grow up is a big step for him. His tempering of the daydream
to leave the world he knows is a sign that he may be ready to try adapting to that world.
This is the complete article, containing 1,910 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page).
