Free Catcher in the Rye Essays: Symbols and Symbolism

826 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the catcher in the rye summary essay

Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye", published in 1951, is his best piece of work. The story is about a sixteen-year old young man by the name of Holden Caulfield. Holden is being expelled from Pency Prep and decides to leave three days early. He chooses to not go home, enabling his parents to receive the letter that his head master at Pency Prep wrote to his parents about his expulsion. He chooses to hang around in New York until Wednesday, when he is going to be able to return home. Throughout the three days, Holden is having a difficult time finding out who he is. 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. Allie, Holden's young brother who died several years earlier, was a major symbol throughout the story. When Holden remembers incidents from his past involving Allie, his attitude changes, such as when he writes the composition about Allie's baseball glove or when Holden broke his hand after punching all of the windows after Allie died. "I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it". (39) He feels that Allie was one of the few people who were not phony in a world full of phonies. More importantly, Allie represents the innocence and childhood that Holden strives to find throughout his three-day journey. In Holden's opinion, Allie represents the purity that Holden looks for in the world. Holden admits that he admires Allie more than he admires Jesus, and even prays to Allie at one point, rather than Jesus. Allie is Holden's role model, whom he judges the rest of the world according to. When Allie dies, it creates turbulence in Holden's life. 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?

Show More
Related

  • Morally Ambiguous Characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    Svidrigailov is one of the most unfathomable characters in Crime and Punishment. As the novel goes on, Svidrigailov’s pursuit of Dunya progresses into sheer harassment. After eavesdropping on Raskolnikov’s confession to Sonya, he uses his newly acquired information to lure Dunya into his room. Svidrigailov proceeds to promise help to Raskolnikov if she will give him her hand in marriage. He then threatens to rape her when she tries to run away. Right when Svidrigailov appears to be purely evil, he surprises us all when his rational side kicks in and allows Dunya to leave. Although he may seem to be the cold-hearted villain of the book, his good deeds cannot go unnoticed. It cannot be forgotten that he is willing to give Dunya the three thousand rubbles in his wife’s will and offers ten thousand rubbles to help Dunya because he thinks her marriage will be a disadvantage to her in the end. Once Katerina Ivanonva dies, Svidrigailov also promises to pay for the funeral arrangements and to provide for the children, who will be sent to an orphanage. Although...

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Catcher in the Rye Still Relevant Today

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is unique. The novel is written from the perspective of a teenager who lives in New York in the 1950's. From the context in the beginning and the end of the book, "I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy" (page 1), "I could probably tell you what I did after I went home, and how I got sick and all, and what school I'm supposed to go to next fall, after I get out of here, but I don't feel like it" (page 213), we can infer that Holden Caulfield, the aforementioned teenager, is in a mental hospital. However, he tells the story through flashback of a three-day period sometime before Christmas the year before. This is unusual because most novels cover much more time than three days. This is one reason why this novel is so unique. Although the novel is spread over only three days, we learn so much about the protagonist, and many other characters, because all Holden's thoughts and feelings, especially about other characters, during these three days is portrayed, nothing is left out.

    Read More

  • Suffering to Achieve Happiness in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character’s suffering is thrown in the readers face right from the beginning. Raskolnikov’s suffering has two apparent layers, “he was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him” (1). It seems that the suffering caused from his current state of mind is so great that he does not even feel the suffering caused by his poverty. Throughout Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov’s main point of suffering is caused by his inability to let others know of the crime he has committed and as a result he alienates himself from those who show him compassion (156). As the novel progresses he decides to tell Sonia because expressing his crimes would alleviate some of the suffering, however, her morals encompass the idea that it is inconceivable to “go on living” without suffering and “expiation” (416). At this confession, the reader is presented with a righteous character (probably the most) that does not judge Raskolnikov for what he has done but instead sympathizes and tells him that turning himself in and bearing the consequences will relieve him of the suffering caused mentally.

    Read More

  • What Is The Theme Of Symbolism In Catcher Of The Rye

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many novels that are written with a purpose like “ the Catcher of The Rye, “ by J.D. Salinger. Salinger purpose was to show teens that stressing out over things is not the solution, it's okay to make mistakes. He started out with a character named Holden, who has been recently kicked out of Pencey Prep and slow introduces the anxiety he has of becoming an adult. Holden’s absence of adulthood cause him to do wrong decisions because he doesn't think of the effects it will do to his life. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher of The Rye approached his theme with symbolism which led to the theme of you can’t always be innocent to the world.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Catcher In The Rye

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    The phobia of growing old is prominent in society today. There are many reasons citizens fear leaving childhood, such as embracing the responsibilities of adulthood, giving up fantasy to accept reality, feeling one’s aloneness, and living life anxiously awaiting death. These terrors not only occur in society, but also appear in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. These ideas are thought by Holden Caulfield, the main character, who believes as one grows older they lose innocence and become “phony.” An initial reading of the book The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, suggests that the text focuses on the theme of vanishing and transitioning to maturity, and that he is concerned with its effect on the loss of innocence. The author

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet and Machiavelli’s The Prince

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. The Three-Text Hamlet. Eds. Paul Bertram and Bernice Kliman. New York: AMS Press, 1991.

    Read More

  • Transformation of Reality as Portrayed in Don Quixote

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Conclusively, throughout Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes explores the transformation of reality. By doing this, he critiques and reflects conventional societal literary norms. In three distinct scenes, Don Quixote or his partner, Sancho, transform reality. Often they are met with other’s discontent. It is through the innkeeper scene, the windmill scene, the Benedictine friar scene, and Quixote’s deathbed scene that Cervantes contemplates revolutionary philosophies and literary techniques. The theme of reality transformation does not even stop there. Sometimes the transformations of reality scenes act as a mimetic devices. Ultimately, Miguel Cervantes use of transformative scenes acts as a creative backdrop for deeper observations and critiques on seventeenth-century Spanish society.

    Read More

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

    2299 Words  | 5 Pages

    Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment begins with Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov living in poverty and isolation in St. Petersburg. The reader soon learns that he was, until somewhat recently, a successful student at the local university. His character at that point was not uncommon. However, the environment of the grim and individualistic city eventually encourages Raskolnikov’s undeveloped detachment and sense of superiority to its current state of desperation. This state is worsening when Raskolnikov visits an old pawnbroker to sell a watch. During the visit, the reader slowly realizes that Raskolnikov plans to murder the woman with his superiority as a justification. After the Raskolnikov commits the murder, the novel deeply explores his psychology, yet it also touches on countless other topics including nihilism, the idea of a “superman,” and the value of human life. In this way, the greatness of Crime and Punishment comes not just from its examination of the main topic of the psychology of isolation and murder, but the variety topics which naturally arise in the discussion.

    Read More

  • Lies and Mendacity in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

    276 Words  | 1 Pages

    The entire family is involved with lies to Big Daddy and Big Momma, as are the doctors. They tell them that Big Daddy does not have cancer, but only a spastic colon. Brick lies to himself about his feelings for Skipper until Big Daddy forces him to face it. He then understands that he is upset about the way his clean friendship has been misinterpreted. Gooper and Mae pretend to be loving and doting children, when in fact all they want is money and land. Big Mama lies to herself, think all the cruel things Big Daddy says are just jokes. She also lies to herself by thinking that a child from Maggie and Brick would turn Brick into a non-drinking, family man qualified to take over the family place. Big Daddy is even wrapped up in the mendacity. He admits to Brick that he is tired of letting all the lies. He has lied for years about his feelings for his wife, his son Gooper and his daughter-in-law Mae, he says he loves them, when in fact he can't stand any of them. Maggie, who seems to tell close to the truth the entire play, breaks down and lies about her pregnancy.

    Read More

  • Don Quixote Analysis

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    Don Quixote is one of the oldest forms of the modern novel. Written in the early 17th century it follows the adventures of Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza. In Don Quixote, Cervantes satirizes the idea of a hero. Don Quixote sees himself as a noble knight among the ignorant common folk, but everyone else sees him as a bumbling idiot who has gone mad. Therefore, the novel’s longevity in the western canon is due to the humorous power struggle and the quest of a hero Don Quixote faces throughout the story.

    Read More

  • Hamlet’s Madness

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Davis, Tenney L. “The Sanity of Hamlet.” The Journal of Philosophy 18.23 (1921): 629–634. JSTOR. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Las Relaciones Con El Narrador en Las Ruinas Circulares

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    La multiplicidad del cuento es un tema repetido. El narrador describe el cuento y usa una multitud de sucesos, palabras, ideas y personas repetidos. Durante del cuento, el hombre sueña de crear un hijo sin otro. La creación de un hijo representa la repetición del hombre y la continuación de vida. También, el hombre tiene dos planes para crear el hijo cuales involucran la supernatural y la realidad del mundo. Después de su primer intento creativo falla, él está frustrado y casi quita. Luego, él examina y modifica su método de crear y acude a la intervención de los dioses para intentar un mejoramiento de la creación: "Luego en la tarde, se purificó en las aguas del río, adoró los dioses planetarios, pronunció las sílabas lícitas de un nombre poderoso y durmió." Solamente los dos, El dio, Fuego, y el hombre, saben que el sueño va a estar un realidad a eso tiempo. Sin embargo, el narrador sabe que el resultado no sigue los dos planes de los personajes. La repetición de los planes, los personajes, la recreación de otra vida y la realidad de estos elementos por el narrador crea la ilusión de realidad para el hombre.

    Read More

  • Character Development in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...l […] his passing from one world into another” (542). Without Raskolnikov’s relationship with Sonia it would have been impossible for him to become this new man, to convert to Christian existentialism and find happiness and meaning in life.

    Read More

  • Cervantes' Motivation for Writing Don Quixote

    1869 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...r (Magill 330). In Part II of the novel, however, Don Quixote becomes less of a sadly comic figure, and more heroic (331) after he stoically faces down a lion, leading Sancho to change his master’s previous title--”Knight of the Rueful Countenance”--to “Knight of the Lions”.

    Read More

  • Inconsistency in The Character of Hamlet

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be.  He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.

    Read More

More about Free Catcher in the Rye Essays: Symbols and Symbolism

Open Document