Catcher In The Rye Corruption

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What is the theme of The Catcher in the Rye? Explain and support this theme. Answer: People will struggle through life, and will need someone to save them. This theme is revealed through the title, The Catcher in the Rye, which alludes to the poem discussed in the story, and the wish of Holden to save youth from being dropped into the real world of corruption, to be there to “catch them.” The actual interpretation of the poem guides the reader to the truth of inappropriate or difficult subjects popping up everywhere. Later in the story, Holden sees some explicit language that has been “written… on the wall,” and he is extremely bothered. He can’t stop thinking about how “Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it” and this exemplifies…show more content…
First person is used by Salinger, throughout The Catcher in the Rye, to provide a deeper understanding of Holden’s character. Without his inner thoughts and feelings, the reader would not know how different Holden is from other people. He imagines a great many things in his head, like “pretending [he] had a bullet in [his] guts,” and the people around him do not think the same way. In the quote, holden is conversing with his sister Phoebe. The reader does not know of Phoebe’s personal thoughts, but through dialogue she corrects Holden on his quoting of the poem. Even so, he sallies forth with his own personal interpretation, his vivid picture and wish of saving these little kids from falling off a cliff. He desires to be a “catcher in the rye,” and were it not told in the first person, the reader may have not gained as deep an understanding of holden’s true feelings. If Phoebe’s feelings were interspersed, some sentiment could have been lost in this display of aspirations. Conversely, were Holden's thoughts simply made known from an outside source, they could have lacked emotion or even value. The symbol of the “catcher in the rye” might have also made less sense were it not known, through Holden’s personal, first person accounts, that he thought about the way older people would scrawl profanity on walls, or in other ways alert youth of unsettling topics, and that it “drove [him]
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