"Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger: An Examinatory Essay on Holden's Loss of Innocence throughout the novel

"...Children have a power to imagine that is almost magical when compared to the adult imagination, and this is something irrevocable that a child loses when he or she becomes bound by logic..." - Joseph Weizenbaum. The novel "Catcher In The Rye" written by J.D. Salinger is about Holden Caulfield, a boy who has just been expelled from his school and the day leading up to telling his parents he has been kicked out. …

…to the event of his brother Allie dying. Holden wishes that he could be ensnared in time while Allie was alive, and because Allie was innocent when he died, Holden longs to be trapped in innocence with him. Jean Piaget almost captured Holden's point of view when she said, "If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society."