The novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger can be considered as one of the most successful, controversial and most influencing novels of the 20th century. Salinger´s protagonist Holden Caulfield has had a decisive impact on the success of the novel and is widely considered as a symbol for teenage rebellion. The impeccable success of the novel is therefore mainly due to the development of a clear theme (One´s attempt to resist changes in life can result in the life´s downfall) connected with the struggles and searches of the protagonist throughout the novel. Holden, who was traumatized by his brother Allie´s death, fears change and disappearance and thus struggles with the changes and responsibilities that become insurmountable when developing into adolescence. One of the reasons that show how Holden attempts to reject his individual development into adulthood is him connecting the “adult life” with superficiality and ignorance and childhood with innocence and honesty. This aspect is reflected by the multiple usage of “phony” throughout the novel. Phony, for him is a symbol for the idea that society has replaced values such as “love” and “honesty” with more superficial aspects such as “power”. This is shown as he states, when talking about future perspectives, that: “All you do (as a lawyer) is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you weren’t being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn’t." (172) Because of this fear (from his perspective) of becoming a “phony”, Holden rejects his development into adulthood. The fantasy about him being the catcher for children, who play in the rye and are about to fall of a cliff, resembles this idea: He imagines to be the catcher for the innocent children who are about to fall into adulthood; He plans to save them from this “fall” and make them continue their, fro