The Children Images In The Catcher In The Rye

When The Catcher in the Rye first appeared in 1951, it was received by critics and book reviewers as a literary sensation. J. D. Salinger gained an almost immediate acceptance as being among the most significant post-World War II novelists. It is certainly a "modern" novel. It is, in brief, the story of an adolescent boy on the brink of adulthood. Holden Caulfield is a victim of his society. He is "depressed" over the great abundance of "phonies" in the world. Justlike Huckleberry Finn, Holden, too, is seeking a new home------aplace where it will not exist in the reality but in the children' innocent world. While watching Phoebe ride the carrousel, Holden feels happy and contented. It is just a feeling of perfect freedom. And that is what Salinger believes: the goodness of human world is rooted in the children's innocence. The spiritual trauma in the adult world and all the agonies can be purified and healed in the children's world. In the thesis, the power of the children as the spiritual savior will be analyzed, while the symbolic and thematic importance of the children's images is studied.