Day Three: A Book You Love

A book I loved and read twice in high school was The Catcher in the Rye. If you’ve read it, you understand the story and will know what I’m talking about. The concept of the title is so deep and creative. The main character, Holden, reminds me of myself a lot in a couple aspects. To simply put it, at the end of the book he explains that he wants to be a catcher in the rye. The author makes you think of a rye field on top of the cliff with kids playing in it. He then explains that the kids are too short to see over the rye field and they could be falling to their death off the cliff. Now Holden wants to be the catcher at the end of the rye field just before the cliff so he could..you know, catch kids before they fall. The cliff and falling is just a metaphor for mistakes and the rye field is a metaphor of life. The little kids haven’t experienced life enough to know what to expect when they grow older and all they can do is run aimlessly through life, fall, and hopefully pick themselves back up. 

Holden explained this when he was watching his sister play in the park at the end of the book. He noticed she was playing on these rings that swing around that were too tall for her. He was thinking to himself whether he should warn her that she shouldn’t be playing on those, or letting her fall and learn from her mistake. He decided to just be by her and made sure she was okay after she fell.

That’s how I am with all of my close friends, or at least I try to be. I try to explain situations to them when they come to me with problems but I don’t work it out for them. I let them know all perspectives and let them choose for themselves whether they want to take my route and listen to me or make a mistake. I’m right there by their side either way..