The Catcher in the Rye Forum

I need to write a paper that is about Holden's morals. There are Three main morals one is repsect but i have no clue about the other two. if you have any ideas and at least a little to back it up that would help tons! thanks

Cas,  I just read the book after my first reading of it - My god, about 40 years ago!  anyhow, I think Holden had a strong value of genuinely liking young and innocent children and he wanted to protect them from harm, from being exposed to the "FU" words in school to getting hurt by falling thus his dream of catching the children in the rye who came close to harm - at lease this is a theme I saw in him throughout the book, with his sister and other children.  He also seemed to value the advice of teachers, whom he thought were not phony  - who were genuine and congruent with their feelings and values - however, he strongly disliked established institutions like the private schools he went to. - So, I think there is an argument that he held the moral of valuing lessons from his elders, at least some of them.  I hope this helps. 

Tom, I agree with you 100% except for one small part(remember this is just my opinion haha) that being that i think hes dream of being "the catcher in the rye" was more a 'metaphor' if you will. I think hes tryin to say that he wants to stop children from growing up too fast like he did.

he values innocence & childhood. i think it has to do with the fact that when he was young his brother died, and holden was forced to grow up in a manner of speaking.
also you could address holden's ideas & morals towards women. i mean he was mad about jean, and was clearly in love with her & admired her alot. but then later he turns around and gets a hooker.
his interactions with women are strange, and i think there's alot to be had there. :)