“'Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazt cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy,’” (Salinger 173). This is pretty much my all time favorite quote in the whole entire novel. Holden spills his guts out in a symbolic way about how he feels of life, and what he wants to do. The poor kid is so caught up on growing up. He just wants to stay a kid, innocent and free from life’s grasp. He tells readers that he wants to “catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff”. What this means is Holden wants to keep innocent children like Phoebe from being pushed into a reality that will eat them alive, like it has him. I find it very interesting that Holden talks about being the “catcher in the rye”. In a way, he feels all hope is lost for him, but if he can spare a few lives, it would make things worth the trouble he endures.
When I first read these words from Mr. Caulfield, I stopped and reflected on everything Holden had gone through from page one up until that significant quote. He does not want any “phony” adults around in his life. To the children playing in the field of rye, he will be the “big” guy and protect them from the dangers of life. I think this quote is the most noteworthy in The Catcher in the Rye because Holden’s absolute true feelings are shown. I give high regard to Holden (and Salinger) for the symbolic quote that completed the novel.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.
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