Allie's baseball glove and the poems written on it.Hi, Our teacher gave us a question to think about: How does Allie's baseball glove and the...

Holden himself struggles with his own loss of innocence as
a maturing, adolescent male.  He identifies intensely with children as he moves through
his own personal journey in 1950's New York.  We understand slowly throughout the novel
that Allie "had the potential" to become a great writer just like his older brother D.B.
But, unlike D.B. he might never have gone off to California to "prostitute" his
writing.  Allie had the possibility of becoming better than D.B. and even better than
Holden himself.   Both Allie and Phoebe demonstrate writing ability to a certain extent,
Allie with his poems and Phoebe with her stories written under the name of Hazel
Weatherfield.  Holden loves everything about Phoebe, her stories, her taste in music and
movies, and even her skating.  She represents true innocence.  She even takes the blame
for him when his mother smells his cigarette smoke in Phoebe's
room.

     He places both his younger siblings on a
pedestal and idealizes their behavior and motivations.  We can see in Phoebe a true
devotion and even a longing to be around her big brother.  She has no qualms about
packing a bag and going off with Holden when she suspects he may be running away.  She
offers him all of her money without hesitation and even keeps the broken pieces of the
record he accidently broke.  These things touch Holden and reinforce his idea that
children are perfect in their innocence.  The longer they can be protected, the longer
they can exist in this state of innocence. 

     He does,
however, feel very guilty about his relationship with his younger brother.  He remembers
times when Allie wanted to tag along and he told him no.  He beats himself up over these
memories to the point where he reveals he broke all the windows in the garage.  He feels
he has failed Allie in some fundamental way and this failure could be a profound source
for his own angst and disappointment with the world around him.  He writes Stradleter's
composition about the mitt and becomes incensed when he faces criticism about the
essay.  He's still very protective of the memory of his
brother. 

     The only things that get through to him on
his personal journey seem to be when he hears the little boy's "Catcher" song.  It
cheers him up when nothing else will but the obscene words written in places where
children might read them bring him right back down.  When Phoebe reaches for the brass
ring at the end of the novel, she is reaching for "adult" things that might get her
hurt.  Holden realizes this and mourns for loss of that innocence for her if she should
actually catch the ring or if she should fall while trying to obtain
it.