Robert_Frost_and_Catcher_in_the_Rye_Essay.

Change is something everyone has to learn to accept. Unfortunately, for Holden Caulfield this concept is hard. Holden Caufield, protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s The Cather in the Rye, wants innocence to be a permanent characteristic in everyone’s life. Throughout the novel, he is on a “hunt” for his identity. Holden is a unique individual who sees the world completely different from any common person. All through the novel, the audience can feel Holden changing just like how Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” states. Holden Caulfield’s journey through the novel and Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” both do a marvelous job in talking about the main theme of loss of innocence and youth. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost is brilliant, yet complex short poem that illustrates various aspects of human experience: morality, loss of innocence and youth, and the fact that good things at some point in life must end. Even though, Frost only discusses the life-cycle of a leaf it is easy to look past this and connect his theme to life in general. When Robert Frost says “Then leaf subsides to leaf” this can be interpreted as one leaf replacing another just like how a new born replaces those who grow old and die. Robert Frost’s poem has a deeper meaning to it than one can imagine. Throughout the poem, Frost emphasizes on the loss of innocence and youth. The first four lines of the poem give a better illustration of this theme. “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour” through these lines he demonstrates the beauty of youth, but at the same time he shows how those beautiful times cannot be held. Lastly, “So Eden sank to grief” can be interpreted as loss of innocence. Frost makes a very strong biblical allusion here. For Christians, “Eden” represents innocence because that is the beautiful garden where Adam and Eve lived before eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge represents being corrupt and this concludes loss of human innocence because Adam and Eve did a disobedient act by eating from the tree. In the poem the last line states “nothing gold can stay”, personally the meaning behind this line can be determined by an individual’s life, values, and concerns. The meaning for “gold” is different for everyone. The ability of such a poem to be able to reach the audience at a personal level is remarkable. In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye the main character, Holden Claufield, journeys through New York City before heading home after getting kicked out of Pencey Prep. Holden gets kicked out at the age of 16 and at this age Holden would disagree with what Robert Frost’s poem suggests. Through his journey in the city, Holden discovers a lot about himself. From the beginning of the novel Salinger provides us with symbolism through the red hunting hat Holden wears. Holden’s hat represents his individuality and protection. Holden is protecting himself from the outside world without realizing it; he protects his innocence of youth. Holden has problems connecting with people, but his sister, Phoebe, is the only person he can truly connect with. Phoebe symbolizes the pure innocence of a child. In Phoebe’s school, Holden see’s obscenity and this worries him because he doesn’t want kids to lose their innocence by being around such words. He doesn’t want Phoebe learning them. Holden states, “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-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... But I rubbed it [The 'fuck you' written on the wall] out anyway (Salinger 201)." This displays how Holden wants innocence to always last. Robert Frost states “Nothing gold can stay”, through Holden’s thought process it can clearly be seen how much contradiction is present. At age seventeen, Holden would agree with Robert Frost’s poem because he experienced the real world by himself. Throughout the novel Holden called everyone and everything someone did “phony”, but while he was in the “rest home” he realized that he missed everyone he mentioned. Holden said, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody (Salinger 214).” These are his last words from the novel, where he realizes growing up isn’t as bad as he seemed. In the beginning of the novel Holden wanted to move far away from everyone, but after watching Phoebe go around and around on the carousel, he realized he’s not going to run away. He liked the carousel because it stayed the same: same music and same motion. Even though he liked everything to be the same, he realized that growing up is just a part of life and he will have to accept it. This realization can be compared to loss of innocence and youth portrayed in “Nothing gold can stay” because the poem talks about “So Eden sank to grief.” This line is parallel to Holden’s growing up and losing his innocence. Innocence and youth have been a big part of Holden Caulfields life in The Catcher in the Rye”, but in the course of the novel the audience can see how his views and his personality changed drastically within a year. in the end at his “rest home” from where the story is told, he realizes that “Nothing gold can stay”. Everything happens for a reason, and you just have to learn to accept it. Robert Frost’s small poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, has a bigger meaning behind it that can be understood by any individual willing to learn. He incorporated many different themes into this eight line poem. Holden’s journey and Robert Frost’s poem both do a brilliant job in talking about main theme: loss of innocence and youth.