The catcher in the ryeThe Catcher in the Rye is anovel written by J. D. Salinger. J. D. Salinger becomes one of the most pr ominent Post-World ii American novelists,The catcher in the rye narrates a series of picaresque adventures of a sixteen-year-old boy in the New Yo rk for three days. The protagonist Holden Caulfield became a quite legen dary character, and his awareness of adolescent is just like the most sensit ivity young Americans. After Post-World War, more and more young peo ple faced on the main-adolescence growing up crisis in the America. Duri ng adolescence, boys and girls go through the biological, psychological, a nd social changes necessary to prepare themselves to meet the challenges of becoming adults. Someone explains it more exactly, “adolesc ence is a process of achieving the attitudes and beliefs needed for effective particip ation in society.” But, they didn‟t suit the changes from young to the mar ital adult. Holden is such kind of adolescent; he fails in school uses vulgar expressions, gets drunk… He may be thought to have some vulgar or no t very high moral standards. These common characteristics of teenagers may not match the idealistic conception of adolescents. On one hand, Hol den finds the innocence of children and wants to be a protector of the inn ocence; on the other hand, he must be growing up and gets into the dilem ma between the childhood and the adulthood. He refuses the traditions of school in which they just3 focus on educating people materialistically, but lacking depth. His loneliness and rebellion result from his conscious refusing of the false co nventions and phonies that surround him. However, no matter hoe repelle nt Holden is, he is not to overthrow society. So at the end of the novel, the red hunting hat can‟t stop the pouring rain; Holden has the wet clothes. Holden must be inevitably going back under the help of Phoebe.6would stay away from children for their whole lives, and that they w ould retain their honesty and naivety.Children are different from adults in many aspects. Children are naïve and pure. They have not yet learned the phoniness and pretense, while which are the adults‟ common characters. To Holden, growing up means to enter the world where phony is everywhere. He is so reluctant to enter the adult world, for he can not find his role he likes. He yearns for pure ch ildhood, and he does not want to be into adulthood. He rejects all practice that marks initiation into adulthood. So Holden finds various means to pr otect his adulthood from world‟s influences. He makes great effort to cat ch his innocence. As Holden himself says, “certain things they should sta y the way they are”. (Salinger, 128)C. His Escaping from the RealityI keep picturing all these little kids playing some in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobody‟s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I‟m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff—I mean if they‟re running and they don‟t look where they‟re going I hav e to come out from somewhere and catch them. That‟s all I‟d do all day . I‟d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it is crazy, but that‟s t he only thing I‟d really like to be. (Salinger, 179-180)From this monologue above, Holden is a constant character in the st ory, his attitude toward life results from his attitude toward himself. His l ow self-esteem causes him to try to run away from life and from reality. When life is presented to him as a game with rules, he breaks the rules an d leaves the game. He‟s a person who refuses to accept reality and tries a s much as he can to grasp childhood. He always wants to protect children ‟s purity and innocence. (Claro)Through out the novel, Holden incessantly mentions how things depr ess him. Everything from the way people act, to how things are in nature, brings him down. Holden‟s behavior revolves around his depression. He does not try to pass his classes7in school, as well as he does not try to be overly social. He hates the way that people can be so phony, yet he himself can also be called one. H olden tries to put up a front to hide his depression. He acts the way that he thinks people want him to act. Holden enjoys …shooting the bull‟ with people. This is because it is the only way that he can have a conversation w ith someone without revealing his depression. (Claro)III. Causes of Holden’ Refusal to Grow up A. The Modernization of American SocietyHolden‟s plight represents the plight of young people of his conte mporary: they are neither under the sanctuary of the nature gods, nor gui delines from the elderly. He dreams of going to the west, living by the lak e, asking her sister Phoebe to stay in his place in summer holidays, Christ mas and Easter, if his brother D. B. is looking for a comfortable, quiet pla ce to write, he can go to his place, too. In Holden‟s ideal dream of the w est, there are full of nature, tranquility, comfort. But he ultimately was not able to escape from city. Holden‟s experience reflects that the modern w estern civilization spreads on a large scale. (Bing, 137)According to this novel we can see that Holden is faced with a crim inal and inhuman world. His living condition is just like that of Hamlet, w ho is standing in front of a world about to collapse. He was deceived by t he world of supremacy of material. The American society, in which Holde n lives, is no longer like the society Thoreau or Adams live, because now it is a modern, complex, urbanized and alienated society. People are surro unded generally by the hypocrisy, indifference, impudence, and decadenc e. Through the eyes of Holden, Salinger presents not only the living conte xt of the hero but also a scary, disgusting adult world. The basic featuresof the world are shameless hypocrisy, and this is Holden hates most. (Hua ng, 93)This novel is known for his autobiographical details that are transpla nted into a post-World War II setting. This novel reflects American adults ‟ lack of enthusiasm8for helping and guiding the adolescents. Thus, this kind of society ca uses mental anxiety and distress to teenagers. (Yang, 551)Under the influence of the War, American people have changed no t only in their looking but also in mind. Though they are rich in material li fe, they become spiritually empty and , what‟s worse, they are psycholog ically unbalanced. They have also lot their values of moral standard. This is the environment or background in which Holden lives. (Fu)B. His Isolation from SocietyHolden‟s isolation is as a form of self-protection and not wanting p eople to know the real of him. I am pretty sure that Holden‟s alienation i s the cause of his most unhappiness. He never seems to address his own e motions, nor does he attempt to discover the reasons for his own troubles. He greatly needs contact and love with other humans, but his protective wall of bitterness keeps from seeking that. For example, his loneliness ma kes him to have a dire to date Sally Hayes, but his wanting for isolation le ads him to drive her away.Holden explains, “The best thing, though, in the museum was that ev erything always stayed right where it was. Nobody‟d move…Nobody‟d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” Hold en also mention he wishes he could live in: “the catcher in the rye” fantas y, a world where nothing ever changes, where things are simple and under standing. Holden‟s character hates challenges and conflict. He fears inter action with people around him. (Salinger)He deplored that he has lost his childhood, at the same time he refus ed to be a role of the adult world; this is the typical Holden code confusio n and pain. But he has been unable to return to Childhood, while fears of entering a false hypocritical adult world. He lost between the two worlds. Moreover, disturbing for him, he realized that he had been tarnished by a dult world. Therefore, in order to prevent these simple and9pure children from repeating his tragedy, he is willing to stand on the edge as a catcher. (Huang, 100-101)IV. ConclusionThe analysis above reveals that Holden represents the lonely and lost American youth. He is at odds with the adult society, and he refuses to gr ow up because he thinks that the adult world is phony. He treasures innoc ent childhood, so Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye. In a word, thi s resulted from the American post-war influence and his intended isolation。