Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost exemplifies the loss of innocence. The poem displays how you are pure and innocent when you are a child but as you mature, it is impossible to remain this way. In The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden will soon realize that nothing Holdens main goal in life is to protect children from losing their innocence. He designates this to the role of catcher in the rye, who catches children before they fall off the cliff.
Symbolically, the cliff represents the transition from childhood to adulthood. He idolizes his sister Phoebe and his deceased brother, Allie, because they embody the characteristics of innocence and virtue, attributes Holden finds ideal. Holden yearns for that childlike sincerity, instead of the adult world, which seems hypocritical and Obviously, Holdens job of catcher in the rye is only a dream, but he still tries to protect childrens naivet. While visiting Phoebes school, he notices that some had written Fuck you on the wall.
Seeing that drove him crazy because he knew that if his sister saw the writing, she would iscover what it meant, and therefore part of her innocence would be taken away. In order to preserve his catcher in the rye role, he wipes off all the Fuck you signs that he can. Here you can see he is a step closer to realizing that his dream role cannot come true when he says that not even in a million years could you rub off half the Fuck you signs. This shows that he is starting to realize that his dream may not be possible.
One good example of Holdens character comes when he is at the Museum of Natural History. He comments about how the greatest thing about the museum is how, although you may come many times over the years, it never changes. Every exhibit would be exactly the same. The only thing that changes is you. It makes Holden despondent to think about Phoebe going to the museum and changing every time she goes. Certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.
These two lines represent Holdens character entirely. The climax of the novel comes when Holden is watching Phoebe on the carousel in the rain and his dream is symbolically crushed. Phoebe and all of the children are reaching for a gold ring on the carousel and Holden is worried she will fall off. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them. When Holden makes this comment, you can see his views have changed.
He now sees that hildren cannot be restricted in this way. In his quest for an Eden filled with innocence and purity, Holden came to the conclusion that life must move forward and this means that Holden cannot hold onto adolescence forever. Although he does have a nervous breakdown, he now seems able to deal with his problems. He also seems to understand the word phony now, and no longer uses it. D. Bs English girlfriend sounds affected but not phony. Holden seems to have grown and realizes now that not every adult in the world is bad.
