Can you be afraid of growing up? From the moment a child observes the privileges that adults have in the world, he cannot wait for the day he grows up. On the contrary, Holden Caulfield has no desire to grow up because his introverted personality protects him from the fear of losing his innocence. Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses symbolism, daunting imagery, and colloquial diction to make the reader aware of Holden's fear of the loss of youth. Holden, although only seventeen when he tells his story, speaks as if he were an old man remembering his youth. Throughout the novel it represents Holden's fear of losing his purity and how he wants to help others who need saving. from the world around them. Sometimes the most important symbol in a book is right before your eyes, for example the title of the book. When Holden sneaks into his parents' apartment to talk to his younger sister Phoebe, he tells her that he imagines himself "standing on the edge of a crazy cliff" and what he has to do is "catch everyone if they start falling off the cliff" ( 173). In this, “everyone” represents childhood, and the “precipice” is the fall of innocence. It seems to the reader that Holden not only wants to save others from the fall of innocence, but also wants to save himself. As Holden grew up, he faced hardships, such as the death of his brother Allie from cancer. From this experience, a huge part of his innocence was taken away from him the entire time he grew up; He believes that as one grows older, bits and pieces of innocence will fall away by themselves and that is why he has always had the fantasy of saving others from the fear that Holde... middle of paper....is fake because he believes that they take away people's innocence. For example, Holden would agree that the families who paid Ossenburger to bury their families for free had their innocence taken away. Ultimately, Holden Caulfield is a dynamic character because he goes from being very eager to grow up, but learns that eventually, sooner or later, you have to cross that point in life. Throughout the novel, the audience feels sympathy towards Holden because of the hardships he faced, such as the death of the only person he looked up to. This single death triggered the fear that Holden has had for a long time, which made everyone labeled as fake and isolated from the world around him. Although Holden was afraid of growing up, he had already matured due to the adversity he had faced. So, not all