At some point in a person’s life, some sort of trauma, like the loss of a person’s life happens. Trauma prevents people from moving on. It could be a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years to even start forgetting about the trauma. In this case, Holden in the Catcher in the Rye loses his sibling at the age of 13 and four years later at the end of the book, he finally admits to go to a psychoanalyst to get over the loss of his sibling. Salinger employs symbolism in the Catcher and the Rye to illustrate the theme that when young people experience some sort of trauma like the loss of a sibling, it may cause them to resist reality, which prevents them from growing up, but ultimately, the boundary between childhood and adulthood is a crossover …show more content…
When Holden arrives in New York his burning question to the cab driver is ‘where do the ducks go in winter’ (2). Demonstrating that Holden is on a journey. He thinks if he finds out where the ducks go, he thinks he ought to find an answer to where he ought to go. Meaning that Holden is lost. Later on in the book Salinger mentions the ducks again to another taxi driver this time the ducks ‘[are] frozen right in one position for the whole winter‘ (82). This is when Holden has no companion on his trip in New York. Even the taxi driver does not agree to have a drink with him. Therefore he is staying right where he is like the ducks. One last time in the book Salinger mentions the ducks again, ‘It [is] partly frozen and partly not frozen, ... [I had been walking all over the lake and] damn near fell in once, I didn’t see a single duck’ (154). Everything is phoniness to him, nothing helps him so the ducks are his only reliance for change. The lagoon itself is a mirror metaphor for the world as Holden sees it because as Holden is saying what it is, is ‘Partly frozen, partly not frozen‘ (40). The pond is in transition between the two states, just as he is in transition between childhood and adulthood and he sits down and thinks about suicide because he
No one really thinks about how devastating it might be to lose a sibling when you're young. However, Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” has to experience this devastation. Holden is merely 13 years old when his 11 year old brother Allie dies of leukemia. The two boys were extremely close and Holden is traumatized, he spends that night punching out windows with his bare hands. Many articles have been written about the adverse effects of a sibling’s death has on a child, even later in life, and Holden was surely effected. After Allie’s death, Holden isolates himself, begins to do worse in school, and grasps onto the concept on innocence and childhood and cannot let go.
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.
Imagine if your best friend or someone close to you suddenly dies of a fatal disease. The death of this person would physically and mentally inflict trauma. All though the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a grieving seventeen year old because he endures a traumatic experience at the age of 13. His 11 year old brother, Allie, dies of leukemia, and this affects Holden throughout the novel. It causes him to yearn for his innocence and childhood back because he wants to return to the stage in his life when there are no worries. He realizes that it is not realistic to become a child again, and he begins to accept the fact that he must grow up and set an example for his sister, Phoebe. Growing up with the loss of a close brother, Holden wants to be a protector of all innocence, and later in the novel, he begins to notice he must find a solution to his traumatic experiences in order to become successful in his lifetime.
At several points during the course of the novel, Holden asks as to what happens to the ducks who are normally on a pond in Central Park, when winter comes and the water freezes. On page 60, Holden asks, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?
Childhood is an unusually hard thing to rid yourself of when it is time for you to pass into the intensified life of adults. Personally, I have yet to overcome that challenge. The Catcher in the Rye is a well developed story about a high school boy, Holden Caulfield, who is stuck between the stages of adolescence and adulthood, and is trying to discover his identity. All his life, Holden Caulfield has refused to grow up, and as the book progresses, he is on the fine line of leaving innocence and adolescence behind and passing into adulthood, but what gives him the needed shove into the realm of adulthood was getting over his brother, Allie’s death. To Holden, Allie is the main definition of innocence. Eventually Holden comes to the decision to be the catcher in the rye. After this decision he tries to follow through with his plan and ultimately decides that he can’t keep anyone from growing up. This seems to be his breaking point in the book where he finally overcomes all his negative emotions towards Allie’s death and accepts it for what it is, knowing that he has to move on.
The Catcher in the Rye has been described, analyzed, rebuffed, and critiqued over the years. Each writer expresses a different point of view: It is a story reflecting teen-ager's talk--thoughts-emotions--actions; or angst. I believe it is an adult's reflection of his own unresolved grief and bereavements. That adult is the author, J.D. Salinger. He uses his main character, Holden, as the voice to vent the psychological misery he will not expose -or admit to.
The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, written by JD Salinger, touches on the themes of innocence, death, and the artifice and the authenticity in the world, while following the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, through his weekend trip to New York City. As the story unfolds, Holden, as narrator, becomes more vulnerable to the reader, and starts to express his feelings surrounding the death of his brother, Allie, as well as his feelings about himself. Holden is faced with a truth that has haunted him for many years: adulthood. Many of the qualities Holden exhibits, which he sees as negative, are those of the average person: struggle, loneliness, deep sadness. He is one of many classic protagonists that encourages the reader to relate to them on
Have you ever pondered about when growing up, where does our childlike innocence go and what happens to us to go through this process? It involves abandoning previous memories that are close to our hearts. As we can see in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we listen to what the main character; Holden Caulfield has to say about it. Holden is an average teenager dealing with academic and life problems. He remains untouched over his expulsion from Pencey Prep; rather, he takes the opportunity to take a “vacation.” As he ventures off companionless in New York City, we are able to observe many things about him. We see that Holden habitually states that he is depressed and undoubtedly, wants to preserve the innocence of others.
Depression is the storm whose rain can drown a person to oblivion if they have nothing to cling onto. This sea of confusion swirls in an endless tsunami of despair whose only savior is love, for its intensity shines through the storm and calms the sea. Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, explores this emotion through Holden Caulfield. Adolescence is often a time of confusion and yearning to find a place of belonging; this is no exception to Holden who seeks connection with other people and struggles to understand the changing world alongside his transition into young adulthood. Holden’s struggle throughout the novel ultimately illustrates the hypocritical notions society tries to teach the new generations such as being an individual
At various points during the course of the novel, Holden inquires as to what happens to the ducks who are normally on a pond in Central Park, when winter comes and the water freezes. As he inquires, the answers he receives range from as farfetched answers as the idea that the ducks still remain there under the ice, just as the fish do, to uncaring answers such as a simple "What a stupid question!" remark. Despite the answer he gets, Holden is never satisfied with the reply. Holden doesn’t consciously realize that the ducks relate to him. Whether he will admit it or not, Holden is scared. He has been kicked out of numerous schools, he can’t get good grades, his parents are angry with him, and he spends his days wandering through New York City. He doesn’t know where he is going to go, reflecting his question about the ducks. Perhaps if he knew where the ducks went, he could follow their example.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is in a rest home, where he speaks about his past and discusses his thoughts and feelings of his memories. Holden tells about his life including his past experiences at many different private schools, most recently Pensey Prep, his friends, and his late brother Allie which led to Holden’s own mental destruction.
...an instead of his 16 year old self. The ducks are symbolic since they show Holden that some things are only temporary and that they do not always stay the same. The ducks vanish every winter but return once winter is over. It shows how the world and things are temporary and how they don’t stay the same forever. The pond is another symbol as it shows that it is “partly frozen and partly not frozen.” It is in two states just like Holden who is stuck between childhood and adulthood. “I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.”
Trauma can impact someone’s life to where they can’t make connections with anyone. Even connecting with family it would be hard.Trauma changes the way they see the world and other people. In both Good Will Hunting and The Catcher in the Rye, Will and Holden go through traumatic events that change their lives. This makes them see everything negatively and impacts their ability to cope.
Thousands of teens in the U.S. suffer from depression caused by losing a loved one at a young age. In J.D. salinger's book “The Catcher in the Rye” he introduces a character named Holden Caulfield. This character’s younger brother Allie had died while he was young. J.D. Salinger illustrates with amazing symbols how Holden is finding ways to cope with his brothers death.
In chapter 2 of The Catcher in the Rye Holden ponders while conversing with his teacher “where the ducks go when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over.” Holden views himself as one of the ducks that are forced to adapt