Catcher in the Rye Essay

Living on the inside includes expectations and commitments, which can either make or break one. The novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a story on the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who is struggling to escape his current lifestyle, in order to avoid tragedy. Holden yearns to break away from all the phonies surrounding him, for he cannot handle the pressures that society enforces on him, and fears being untruthful to himself. By holding on to elements of his past, Holden is preventing the transition into adulthood, thus making him feel like he is continuously falling. Although Holden stresses his longing of living on the outside, he is really only kidding himself, for the memories of his past and fear of becoming phony, restrict him from transitioning into adulthood; however he must let go of his anxieties in order to move forward, and precede the fall.

Holden craves to escape from the ‘inside’, however he is programmed into that type of elite society, and thus can not elude the suffocating lifestyle of which he is persuaded to develop in. Holden is attached to the inside, for he still feels like “marrying [Sally Hayes] the minute I saw her. Im crazy. I didn't even like her that much” (138). Sally Hayes is the definition of elite society, and by involving himself with her, Holden is being influenced by the phonies of the world. However, Holden truly wants to leave his life behind, for he “ hates living in New York and all. Taxicabs and Madison Avenue buses, with the drivers and all always yelling at you to get out at the rear door…”(145) Holden can not stand the lifestyle of which he is urged to live in, but he does not have the strength to leave it all behind. These attachments suffocate Holden, and trap him on the inside, for even though his mind is on the outside, he himself will always be included. Holden wants to escape his life, and “just be a catcher in the rye”(191). Holden admires the idea of saving innocent children from transitioning into adulthood, because he feels satisfaction in preventing them from the fatalities of adulthood. His connections glue him on the inside, and he is unable to cut these ‘strings’, thus restricting him from leaving to become a catcher in the rye. Even though he can not be a catcher, Holden clings to the necessity of leaving, so he can bypass the fall.

The time between childhood and adulthood confuses Holden, for he does not comprehend his path, thus making him unable to move forward. During a taxicab ride, Holden asks the driver if he “happens to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over” (67). After natural causes took the life of his brother Allie, Holden does not trust mother nature, and therefore does not understand the path of the ducks. Holden is much like the ducks, for he can not see clearly, and is impotent to rely on others to help him through this dark time. Due to his fear of the fall, Holden tries to escape by deciding “[he’d] never go home again and [he’d] never go away to another school again”(218). Holden is scared to enter back into reality, because he knows he will be compelled to make the fall. So, by moving away to an isolate region, he can escape from the influences of society, and avoid the fall. Holden struggles with the transition, because he fears the fall, but in order to locate his true identity, he