In The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old boy, transitions from childhood to adulthood. The death of Holden's little brother marks the beginning of his loss of innocence and maturity. As he enters adulthood, Holden views society differently from his peers, labeling most of his peers and adults he encounters as "imposters". Thus, Holden takes on the impossible challenge of preserving children's innocence because he wants to prevent children from experiencing corruption in society. The Catcher In The Rye embodies Holden's struggle to preserve children's innocence and reveals the inevitability and necessity of encountering the harsh realities of life. As a child, Holden experiences the death of a loved one. Holden's little brother, Allie, "contracted leukemia and died...on July 18, 1946" when Holden was thirteen (Salinger 38). Holden considers Allie to be the kindest and “smartest” member of the family (Salinger 38). Additionally, since Allie dies when he is eleven, Holden does not understand why someone with the talent Allie possessed should die before growing up. Despite her death, Holden continues to think about Allie and does not like “seeing him in this crazy cemetery…surrounded by dead people and tombstones” (Salinger 155). Allie is someone that Holden formed a personal relationship with, and because of her death, Holden experiences a change in his perception of society and life. This change leads to Holden's desire to keep those around him constant and eternal to prevent another individual he is close to from dying or changing. Likewise, Holden witnesses James Castle's suicide while attending Elkton Hills. James Castle calls Phil Stabile “...... middle of paper...... everything is off (Salinger 211). The loss of innocence becomes a part of life that Holden slowly learns to accept. Essentially, Holden's individual loss of innocence through his own experiences leads to his desire to prevent this from happening to other children. The deaths of Allie and James give Holden a new perspective on the world and also introduce the concept of suicide, which he deliberates over several times. Holden's view on death slowly causes him to mature into adulthood, leading him to abandon his childhood ideal of living forever. Nevertheless, Holden does not want things around him to change in order to preserve the children's innocence and tries to get rid of messages that could worry and mature the children. Yet change and the descent into maturity are inevitable, and Holden learns the importance of facing the harsh realities of life..