1. What is the dominant trait involved in creating/establishing Holden’s character? Use one quote from the text in your response.
The most dominant trait Salinger has Holden possess is how extremely judgmental he is of almost everyone and everything. "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all. They were coming in the goddam window." Salinger has
Holden constantly referring to others, throughout the book, as being phony. In The Catcher in the
Rye, Holden Caulfield comes in contact with a number of unique individual who also come with equally unique personalities. Salinger has Holden establish a number of these individuals phony when Holden is essentially the largest phony in all of the book.
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Identify one symbol Salinger uses to help clarify Holden. Explain this relationship using one quote from the text.
Symbols are scattered throughout Catcher in the Rye. One of the most dominant symbols used by J.D. Salinger that represents Holden's character is the shattered "Little Shirley Bean" record. Holden buys this record for Phoebe as a gift, but drops it and breaks it while he is drunk.
Stachurski !2
"I dropped old Phoebe's record. It broke-into about fifty pieces." Similar to an abundance of other symbols in the novel, Salinger has the broken record symbolize the loss of innocence, and
Holden's reaction is distraught after dropping it, since the one thing he has been trying to do throughout the entire book is hold onto his youth and his innocence. As a result of these feeling felt by Holden, he picks up the remaining remnants of the broken record and still intends to gift them to phoebe, even though the pieces no longer serve any purpose.
J.D. Salinger has the record, "Little Shirley Beans", symbolize childhood and the feeling innocence felt as a result of ones youth. Something of which Holden is afraid to let go.
Appropriately, the whole song is "about a little kid that wouldn't go out of the house because
Throughout the novel, the reader is presented with many different symbols. The symbols are clearly seen by Holden's constant repetition of their importance. The symbols are so important and their symbolism is directly related to the major themes of the novel.
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
Holden reaches out to Mr. Spencer for empathy, but when they start talking Holden regrets his decision and refuses to open up about how he feels. Holden initially goes to his teacher's house to say a final goodbye. Holden points out that "He'd written me this note asking me to stop by and say good-bye before vacation started, on account of I wasn't coming back. I'd have come over to say good-bye
Another part where Phoebe shows her influence on Holden is when Holden states, “… the kids were trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the horse. The thing… is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it…if they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” Holden feels that by letting Phoebe ride alone, he will make good for her, something that his parents did not give him. At the same time, Holden reveals his feelings towards his Allie, who he loves and takes care of.
The tears shed in this scene are crucial as Holden becomes aware of the situation caused by his actions, which is a turning point in the novel as previously Holden has ignored his own well being and has not thought of the consequences of his actions. As Holden’s personal empathy grows, he also becomes au courant of what is occurring around him and how relationships have had an impact on his life; “don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start to miss everybody” (234). By the end of the novel, Holden is developing skills to understand his emotions and how to deal with them in an ordinary manner. In doing so, he learns that having great memories comes at a price. Holden ends up missing the memories and the people more than he thought he would. The emotional depth of Holden’s character has grown extravagant amounts throughout
An image he has created in his mind as someone who overlooks children playing in a rye in order to save them shall they fall off the cliff at the end of the rye. Holden’s only dream serves as a parallel of his life, showing his inability to strive for anything real as it simultaneously reveals his fear of falling from childhood or innocence. Childhood is associated with innocence in Holden’s eyes as he sees all things beyond it as something you need to be saved from. Holden believes he needs to save these children before they fall from their
...When Holden concludes that you have to just let a kid go for what they want to do, even though they might get hurt doing so, he might be saying admitting growing up is in fact significant for Phoebe and for himself. He learns that he cannot protect a child from doing what they want to do, so he realizes that he should let them be.
Wildermuth, April. "Nonconformism in the Works of J.D. Salinger." 1997 Brighton High School. 24 November 2002. <http://ww.bcsd.org/BHS/english/mag97/papers/Salinger.htm>
First, Holden attempts to cope with the loss of his brother Allie, but continues to feel depressed and alone. As a result of Allie’s death, it immediately affected Holden and his actions. This is where his anger began to develop. His immediate response was to lash out despite the consequences he would face. Later he would find out that consequence would be not attending the funeral. His parents “were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, because [he] broke all the windows in the garage” (Salinger 44). Also, Holden breaking his hand could have been a cry for attention and his regret. At one point he had wished his brother was dead, but then when he actually died Holden was devastated. By lashing out and injuring his hand he was full of anger, but also “he received the attention and sympathy which were denied him during Allie's illness” (Miller).
Holden has a very hard time throughout the book trying to keep people’s innocence, only to come to notice that it really can’t be tamed pure. “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she was going to fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall of, the fall of, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” (273) In the quote, Salinger changes Holden into learning that innocence is something that is learned about and can’t be kept fully pure forever. The carousel is usually thought of a place where kids are set free and have fun all around, and in the book the carousel going around is seen as how life and innocence goes. Kids trying to grab the golden ring, is a very common thing, but Holden is seeing it as failure always teaches a lesson. The whole book he is trying to fight the loss of innocence and is looking for an unrealistic society where ”phonies” don’t exist. The loss of Allie, had really affected and confused Holden causing him to not relate to others decisions. At the end though he finally realizes that innocence is the cycle of life and something everyone will have to deal with and to try and make the
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
Between Ackley and Sally and assorted New York Cabbies, Caulfield dedicates a significant amount of time to “phony” friends and strangers. It’s evident that Holden doesn’t wish to become attached to anyone lest he be hurt losing them again. This takes a toll on Holden because he never fully understands anyone like he ahd with Jane and Allie. In this book, language often is used by Holden to distance himself from his actions. Since Holden is the narrator, much of what is said by him
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the cyclical symbols of the broken record and the carousel imply that Holden will ultimately be unable to avoid adulthood.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991. Print.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger employs the Shirley Beans record, the museum, and the carousel to demonstrate that the loss of innocence and resulting maturity are imminent and natural. When Holden stumbled through the park, very drunk, after going to a nightclub, he “dropped old Phoebe’s record” (J.D. Salinger 154) which broke even though “it was in a big envelope” (Salinger 154). The record, which told the story of a young child’s dilemma, represented innocence, and so when Holden dropped it, the innocence “shattered.” Still, Phoebe wished to keep the broken pieces of the record, which symbolizes her desire to hold on to childhood and innocence. The record and the envelope demonstrate Holden’s inability to protect his own innocence.