HAYWIRE Issue 2 Fall 2013
was one of Holden’s only trusted adults, but this man
proved himself unworthy of this trust. Holden clearly
breaks down and this could be one reason of his
breakdown.
It seems that Holden gets so emotionally depressed
because of his inability to cure the world, that he feels it
physically too as seen in this quote,”...Right before I
got to the door, I sort of passed out”(p.204). Holden
really seems to face emotional and physical
breakdowns because of his incapability of helping the
world with its problem.
Finally, at the end, Holden seems to have realized
that, that is acceptable. Despite realizing that his dream
will never come true, he still becomes jovial,”I felt so
damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept
going around and around. I was damn near bawling” (p.
213). Holden is by a carousel watching his sister going
around on it. He realizes that it would be alright.
Holden realizes that he could cherish the innocence
while he had it and that it is okay if he cannot achieve
the impossible. Holden becomes aware that he is not
able to conserve the innocence and he realizes that, that
is acceptable.
Holden tries to preserve the innocence in youth
and it becomes clear to him that he cannot through the
song that he messes up, through the innocence he
loves that gets destroyed, and through his breakdowns
because of trying to fight this impossible battle.
Holden messes up the words to this song that he
secretly holds on to and this shows him that he had
been wrong all along. He realizes through this that if
he is going to try to fight against corruption, he cannot
do it alone.
Collage by Olivia Albrecht 11th grade
Holden has many objects that he cares about that
represents purity, and they all were destroyed. Holden
also has breakdowns and these show him that
conserving innocence is much too hard of a task for
one man. Innocence is a good thing and purity is too,
but change must occur. That is just the way that people
and the world function. J.D. Salinger is trying to tell
the reader that change is acceptable and natural, but
society must be careful about the risk of corruption.
Holden-isms
A Holden Caulfield inspired rant
By Patrick Toma, 9th grade
So yesterday or the day before that, I’m not sure, I
was sitting in school. You know being a normal student
and all, and then out of the blue I was called on by the
teacher. That damn teacher probably knew I wasn’t
paying attention. I don’t blame him though, I mean if I
was a teacher I would get annoyed by a student
daydreaming or something like that. I don’t even
remember what I was doing because it happens so often.
I could be paying attention and writing on the science of
life, or something like that and out of nowhere my brain
decides to think about a chicken. I mean really a chicken,
but it’s always something random, like a damn stupid
chicken. So anyways, he called on me and naturally, I
had no idea what he was talking about, hell, I barely
knew what class I was in. So I just said what, and of
course the class started laughing. The teacher then started
lecturing me to pay attention or something. I swear that
teacher thinks I’m retarded. I would too, though, I mean
to have someone answer what or umm to every damn
question you ask them, you would be very frustrated. But
the funny thing is even as the teacher is lecturing me to
pay ] [