In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. His view of the world does not change much through the novel. However as the novel continues, Holden gradually comes to the realization that he is powerless to change this. In the book Holden succeeds in making us think that the world is crazy. Shortly after Holden leaves Pencey Prep, he checks in to the Edmont Hotel in Manhattan which was “full of perverts and morons. There were screwballs all over the place. ” His situation only worsens from this point on as the more he looks around this world, the more depressing life seems.
Around every corner Holden sees evil. He looks out on a world which appears immoral and corrupt. Holdens beliefs on the possibility that not everyone has eveil intentions change only once in the book. The scene is that with Mr. Antolini. After Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head while he was sleeping, Holden jumped up and ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Holden thinks twice about considering someone as a pervert. After reviewing Mr. Antolini, Holden finally decides that maybe he wasn’t making a “flitty” pass at him.
Maybe he just like patting guys heads as they sleep. This is really the only time in the novel where Holden actually considers a positive side. As Holden himself says, “It’s not too bad when the sun’s out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out. ” The one idea that does change during the novel is Holden’s belief that he can change the world. On his date with Sally, Holden reveals his feelings. “Did you ever get fed up?… I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something… ” Holden goes through several plans.
At one point he thinks about heading out west where he would pretend to be a deaf-mute and live a quiet life. At another point Holden proposes to Sally to escape this world with him. It is finally to his younger sister Phoebe that Holden reveals his whole plan. Although Holden describes the situation in a very attractive manner, he basically tells Phoebe that he wants to prevent children from growing up. He blames the world’s evil on adults and believes that when he stops the children from growing up he will save their innocence and the world.
It takes most of the book before Holden begins to realize that he is helpless to stop this corruption. Finally, he realizes that not only is there nothing that he can do, but there is nowhere he can go to hide from it. It takes Holden awhile to understand this. One good example is when Holden is delivering the note to his sister. He encounters an expletive written on the wall. Holden careful rubs this off with his hand so as to protect the innocent children from reading it. Later on he finds the same expletive scratched into the surface with a knife. He discovers that he can’t erase this one.
Even in the timeless peace of the Egyptian tomb room at the museum there is an un-erasable expletive. This situation is the beginning of Holden’s understanding that his dreams of protecting youngsters are hopeless. Ironically enough, it is one of the “innocent” children that he is trying to protect who helps him come to terms with this fact. It is Phoebe who challenges his plan to escape out west. As he is telling Phoebe that she can not run away, he discovers that he too can not run away. “You can’t ever find a place that is nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any.
His break-down comes near the end of the book when he is watching Phoebe on the carousel. “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the******* horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. 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 it’s bad if you say anything to them. ” In the above passage from the novel, Holden hits the final breakdown. Being “the catcher” becomes obviously foolish.
The gold rings are ironically not gold, but really brass-plated iron. The gold rings are symbols of the corrupted world which always “wears” a shiny surface to hide its evil. It is at this point that Holden sees that he can not stop children from growing up and losing their innocence. They will fall if they fall, there is nothing that can be done. Shortly after this point Holden has his nervous breakdown. His breakdown is due to this realization that the world is incorrupt and filled with evil. He knows now with a certainty that he is powerless to stop both evil and growth.