The Catcher In The Rye-JD Salinger

Essay by strunkensurferHigh School, 11th gradeA-, May 2004

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From the time children came out of their mother's womb, they are caught. At playgrounds, mother's hands are always outstretched; ready to catch their young ones incase they fall off a swing or a seesaw. The parents protect their children until they think that they are old enough to fend for themselves and grow up. Holden Caulfield, however, wanted to protect all innocent people, and protect them forever, never letting them move on. He couldn't think of anything better than being the catcher in the rye.

When Allie died, time froze for Holden. He slept in the garage that night, and punched out all of the glass windows. When he broke the windows, in his mind the glass came back together and formed glass cases. He created a museum in his head, just like the one from his childhood (the Museum of Natural History) where everything always stayed the same, only Holden's museum contained people.

The museum would be used to protect the innocent. In the glass cases Holden would definitely put the two nuns he met, Sunny, Mrs. Morrow, Jane, Mr. Spencer, his sister Phoebe, and most importantly, his dead brother, Allie. In fact, the museum was built mainly for Allie. He would put Allie in the museum because he couldn't accept the fact that he was dead, and needed to keep him alive in his mind.

Holden then began living in two times at once. In his mind, he was always in 1946, the summer before Allie died. However, he was physically in the present, were he didn't do too well because his heart wasn't there. Allie and Holden had a special connection. Holden told a story about how when he was golfing he felt Allie's presence 150 yards away. When he turned around he saw...