Holden's Dream Job feat. My Thought Process

After following Holden's story throughout the book, there has been 1 major question that I have wondered.  What does the title mean?  Finally towards the end of the book, Holden mentions "Catcher in the Rye" once.  In the book he tells his sister that he wants to be a Catcher of kids that are trying to run off of a cliff, which is all in rye.  But, I don't think this is meant to be taken literally.  After thinking about this, I realized that Holden wants to be the savior of kids, the cliff is something he sees as danger for them, and the rye is something that blinds them.  But what could the danger be, as this seems to be the key to the metaphor?  At first I thought is was phoniness, or being a phony because that is something that Holden really dislikes.  But then I looked at all of the people he called phony.  His teachers, the principals, the teens around him, pretty much everybody else....except kids.  Maybe the danger is growing up?  Throughout the book Holden has praised the kids around him, Allie, Phoebe, the girl at the park, to name a few.  He seems to love the thing that makes them kids, their childhood innocence.  He even mentions that when he talks about how when adults say thanks it's an obligation, but when kids say it, they say it genuinely.  So maybe Holden wants to "catch" the kids (or maybe their innocence) from the "cliff" of growing up.  The last part is the rye.  I think the rye symbolizes the desire of the children to grow up.  In the second to last chapter of the book, when Holden and Phoebe are at the carousel, Holden talks about how when kids want something, you have to let them get it.  Maybe this desire is the what the rye symbolizes.   So, Holden's dream job is not just to catch kids from falling of a cliff in a giant field of rye, but to save them from becoming adults and making sure they keep their childhood innocence.

Expectations

What are these things

That are bearing down on me?

A presumption, a promise,

A probability.

That I'll grow up,

with a Ph.D

In engineering, or healing,

or psychology.

Now why should I listen?

Why should I care?

I don't have to eat your apples

When I can eat my own pear.

I don't really want to sit

In an office all day,

Looking at the same screen,

And waiting for my pay.  

So what's holding me back?

What won't let me soar?

The fear of my dreams,

becoming a bore?

Or maybe my parents

With all their support,

Trying to make them proud

And then falling short.   

But what did they tell me?

What did they let me know?

That they're proud of me, 

Wherever I go.

I hope it's true,

But I can't help feeling,

These unearthly expectations,

That always keep me reeling.

I guess I'll just tackle them,

Going 1 by 1,

Checking off more and more

Until there are none. 

An impossible task,

One I can never outrun,

No more fighting or flighting,

For now I am done.

A Quote for Life

"Nobody'd be different.  The only thing that would be different would be you."

In chapter 16, Holden looks for his sister, Phoebe.  He finds out that Phoebe might have gone to the Museum of Natural History with her class, so he decides to walk there. On his way there, Holden thinks about when he used to go to the Museum with his class.  He talks about how everything in the Museum always stayed the same, from the birds flying in the air to the Eskimo fishing.  It is at this time that Holden says the quote I chose.

This quote isn't just about a museum, it's a quote about life itself.  But, the museum is a great way to think about it.  Every museum has moving exhibits, but the bulk of the exhibits stay the same and don't change.  For example the Louvre, a museum in France, has all these famous paintings, like the Mona Lisa and Madonna on the Rocks.  They don't ever take those paintings down and put something else up.  The paintings are there year round.  There are some parts of the Louvre that do change, but the bulk of the exhibits stay the same.  Just like in life how the city you grow up in pretty much stays the same.  Some places may open, some places may close, but all the houses are still there, and all the roads are still there.  The only thing different about the city would be you if you came back 5 years later.  

I think that this quote is significant to Holden because from the moment he leaves his school, He has gone back to his past.  When he goes to New York, he goes to places he's gone before.  Everything has stayed the same in these places, but Holden has a different experience because he himself had changed.  For example, Holden tells us that Sally Hayes was phony as ever on their date, but before he never made her cry.  The same can be said for Carl Luce.  Carl wasn't really different than before, but Holden kept asking him questions he didn't want to answer.  In both cases, Holden is the one who changed.  Because he changed, the other people in his life had different reactions then he thought they would have.  It is kind of hard to tell this because the book is written from Holden's perspective, but both times, Holden speaks first to start the chain of events.