Judging a Loss of Innocence

One of the main themes in Catcher in the Rye, is the loss of innocence. Innocence is the freedom from guilt and not being morally wrong. From the perspective of Holden, his little, ten year old sister is innocent, because she is young and has not had a chance to go out in the world and experience the bad things. To Holden, almost all people younger than him are innocent. He is obsessed with age and that is one of the reasons why. Innocence is lost when you experience adult things; like sex, drugs, alcohol, and adult feelings. Holden's thoughts are that everyone younger than him is innocent and that everyone older than him is not innocent because they have experienced more because they have more time under their belt. I think that Holden's sister is one of the most innocent people in the book, because she is young and she has her morals and values figured out, and she sticks to them. I also think that Holden's suitemate, Ackley, is innocent. He does not seem to experienced many bad things, at least that is what I think based on his attitude from what I have read. He also has certain values and morals for himself. He may seem odd to most people but he follows his values and he goes to church every Sunday. That is important to him and he values religion. However, judging a loss of innocence is souly based on an individuals opinion and what they themselves value.