Catcher In The Rye: The Quest For Love :: essays research papers

Catcher In the Rye The Quest For LoveIn many novels in J.D. Salingers library of books, there is a recurringtheme of the loss of honor of children, the falling and the confusions ofchildhood, and many other ideas that apply to the ideas of adolescence and thelife of the average teenager growing up. Many of his themes occur in a shortperiod of clock time in a childs life that affects him/her in a very profound andsignificant way. The idea of love is besides a major theme that arises in many ofhis characters and that indicates the character of the individual. He uses lovein the context of being a device that is used to cherish and to care for mucklewho need protecting and caring. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J. D.Salinger, love is used by a character, Holden Caulfield, who strugglesdesperately to find a certain somebody or anyone to allocate his love to, butrealizes finally, that this love is non necessarily expressed through saving the children in the rye from the time o f trial, but actually caring for themand being their friends, during the time of trial.     The quest of finding the true love of people is an ongoing dilemma inthe lives of many people all throughout the world. The constant need for love isoverwhelming, and the tragedy of this great world is the fact that some peopledo not find the proper love that they deserve. Holden Caulfield is a perfectexample of the striving to acquire a love sought all throughout his life.According to this quote, He is simply expressing an innocence incapable ofgenuine hatred. Holden does not suffer from the inability to love, but doesdespair of finding a place to bestow his love (Heiserman and Miller 30), HoldenCaulfield has the need for allocating his magnificence of love for people. Hisquest is very simple. He wants to do good. As compared to tragic wizes in thepast,"Holden seeks Virtue second to Love. He wants to be good. Whenthe little children are playing in the rye-field on the clifftop, Holden wants to be the one who catches them before theyfall off the cliff. He is not driven toward honor or courage.He is not driven toward the love of woman. Holden is driventoward love of his fellowman...." (Heiserman and Miller 25).In other words, he is not a tragic hero, but rather a misfortuned hero thatstruggles to find a person to give his love to.