Catcher In The Rye Innocence Quotes

But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written 'fuck you' on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them— all cockeyed naturally— what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it.

Lawyers are alright, I guess — but it doesn't appeal to me", I said. "I mean they're alright if they go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time, and like that, but you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. And besides, even if you did go around saving guys' lives and all, how would you know if you did it because you really wanted to save guys' lives, or because you did it because what you really wanted to do was be a terrific lawyer, with everybody slapping you on the back and congratulating you in court when the goddam trial was over, the reporters and everybody, the way it is in the dirty movies? How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is you wouldn't.

The Rebel’s bad attitude is a form of protection Take a look at J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from his prep school for academic failure. Bright and sensitive, he narrates his story in a cynical, jaded voice. Holden longs for a beautiful and innocent world. He cannot bear the hypocrisy of the those around him; his attitude is an attempt to protect himself from pain and disappointment.

This was a war waged by damaged individuals, making victims of the innocent. Trying to be the catcher in the rye, as Fisk had, was insanity. Then again, despite the Sisyphean aspect of the job, somebody had to do it. Or at least try.