Catch and the rye

Allies Catchers Mitt

            In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden, who is the main character in the book, had a brother Allie who passed away from leukemia when they were kids. To remember him Holden keeps his catcher’s mitt. The mitt has quotes written on it. This is his way of remembering his brother. This represents that Holden misses his brother. Holden doesn’t want children to grow up and the mitt represents him catching them before they fall of the cliff into adulthood.

            One thing that Holden really liked about his brother Allie is that “he was terrifically intelligent” (38). Holden dropped out of school and had bad grades. Allies was the smart one that everyone liked. Holden felt as though he was getting in the way of Allie’s intelligence, because he honored him so much. In that case Holden never even tried to do good in school, doing good was what Allie did so he decided to be a failure.

There are many ways to describe Allie, but the description that Holden gives of him is very significant. Holden says his brother Allie had a left-handed fielders mitt. “It had quotes he had written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere” (38). He wrote these quotes on the mitt because he was a writer, and now so is Holden. Holden tells his story as a way to cope with Allies death. By making it sound like he is still alive, and it helps Holden remember how great his brother is.

         In a way Holden feels guilty for his brothers death. When he and Allie were younger Holden would tell Allie he wasn’t allowed to go shot bee-bee guns with him. He told Allie he was a child. This shows that Holden once was against childhood in a way and now is trying to protect it. Holden says “when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, ‘Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house. Hurry up’” (38). Now Holden wishes he hadn’t said that to him. Whenever Holden starts feeling depressed he sits alone and says this, and talk out loud as if his brother was right there.

         In a way both Holden and Allie are the catcher in the rye. Holden is the catcher because he doesn’t want children to grow up. He knows that once they grow up they sin and do bad things like he’s doing. He feels like a failure. Allie is the catcher too because he had a left handed fielder’s mitt. He was catching the ball, in the field of rye. Allie died at such a young age because now he gets to stay the ‘terrifically intelligent”, child that Holden wishes he could be. “You’d liked him’ Holden says. Allie was such a good person, like he was a super hero. Its almost like Allie was sacrificed from being “taken away” from the field.

         Now that Holden is growing up he hates it. He’s making bad decisions like adults do. Allie is dead so he can’t grow up. Holden thinks that growing up is bad in a way. That’s why he keeps making bad decisions.  He feels as though he should just give up now since he is turning into an adult. Allie was always a good kid so he will always be pure in Holden’s mind. Holden doesn’t want bad things to happen to the good people, which are the children, so he becomes almost obsessed with children and tries to save them all before they fall off that cliff into adulthood.