Whats the Rye Field Metaphor Really Getting At?

    The first time I saw the Catcher in the Rye, I didn't really know what to make of the title and I sort of disregarded it as one of those book titles that really seems to have no meaning. But I changed my mind after reading chapter 16 of the novel, where the words subtly come up as Holden passes a young boy carelessly singing the "catcher in the rye" tune. The book doesn't make much of the moment, but Holden, in character, does admire the boy's genuineness as he happily sings the song with no regard for how others might perceive him. Watching the kid, he sees it as a true moment of innocence and bliss that gives him a much needed mood-lifter in the middle of his New York breakdown. The phrase goes away from the attention of the reader for a while but, as though the phrase has been planted in his mind ever since seing the kid, he brings up the phrase in response to Phoebe's question about what he plans to do with his life. Holden seems really adamant about making a "catcher in the rye" into a career. Being the title phrase, "catcher in the rye" automatically conveys some importance, so I decided to examine the passages with this phrase more closely and go deeper into what we talked about in class to better understand Holden's character and why he wants to be a “catcher in the rye”.

    Innocence is a huge theme in the Catcher in the Rye and an incredibly important attribute within Holden's values. All of Holden's favorite people; Phoebe, Allie, the random singing kid on the street, and James Castle all convey and emulate innocence for Holden. However, from what we know about Holden, I would say that his definition of innocence is a little different than the conventional one. While it is true that Holden appreciates Phoebe and the random singing kid on the street for being wholesome and conventionally innocent because they are young and oblivious to the problems of the world, he sees Allie and James Castle as innocent in a different sense. Allie and James are not innocent because they are oblivious but rather because they are pure and uncorrupted by the phonies of the world. Although we never meet Allie, Holden holds him in high standing for being down-to-earth, easy to talk to, and most importantly, someone who rejected the new "immoral" and egotistical standard of society. Similarly, Holden admires James Castle as a boy who died being genuine because he stuck to his word to the very end and refused to be "corrupted" by those around him. Although these four people all have very different relationships and meaningfulness to Holden, the simple fact that they all refuse to buy into immorality or go with the grain of society, make them heroes who preserve and protect innocence in Holden's eyes.

    So why is innocence so important to Holden? My way of understanding its importance to him was through looking at the death of his brother, Allie. No doubt, it was a traumatic event for Holden that changed his worldview and made him into the cynical, morally-obsessed teenager he is in the book. Allie was, and still is a role-model for Holden, and he wants to carry on his legacy of innocent genuineness within himself and forward to Phoebe. Aside from doing it in the name of Allie, Holden also has some sense of what has been done to him as a result of his tremendous loss, and in some way feels as though he has lost his own innocence. The pain he feels from his own loss makes him want to protect kids that are still innocent from suffering the same fate he did and by being a "catcher in the rye", Holden believes he can save children from the suffering of adulthood and keep them innocent. His bizarre depiction of thousands of children aimlessly wandering in a rye field just next to a steep cliff where he is waiting to catch them and prevent them from failing is in many ways just like his desire to preserve innocence. In his mind, being the only tall one in the rye field, he is capable of saving the children before they dive off the cliff. But we can see through this metaphor that Holden no longer recognizes his own self as a child, but instead plays the role of the protector of innocence. He sees himself as a hero who can catch and prevent young children from falling to the bottom of the cliff, where the horrors of adulthood or maturity are waiting for them.

    Although Phoebe does not accept this response as a legitimate answer to her question, for Holden, this really is what he wants to do with his life. It is not a conventional job, but rather a cause that he wants to dedicate himself to. It's a set of values he wants to live by and it's the first time we see Holden applying himself or showing some sort of interest. He wants to be the hero of innocence in his own story, for others, and by doing it all he believes he is carrying on Allie's legacy and making him proud. Although his struggle to prevent maturity (and essentially stop the flow of time for every child on earth) is pointless, it does give us a glimpse of hope into seeing that Holden still does have a caring side and a desire to help others, which makes it seem less impossible that he could find a way to live a fulfilling, happy life (maybe teaching kindergarten?).