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Essays on how jd salingers life affected his books
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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 uses the record as a symbolic device to convey that Holden cannot escape the transition into adulthood, no matter how hard he tries to prevent it. The record, “Little Shirley Beans”, represents the childhood and innocence that Holden is trying to hold on to. The song is “about a little girl that wouldn’t go out of the house because two of her front teeth were out and she was ashamed to” (Salinger 127-28). Holden relates to the little girl in the song as they both are afraid of the changes associated with growing up, and in her instance, the loss of her baby teeth. …show more content…
The carousel never changes, and continues to move in circles and always stays in the same speed; it stays the same while the children who ride it grow older. However, these children riding the carousel “kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and [Holden] was sort of afraid she’d fall off” (232). These children are teetering on the edge of innocence, close to falling from the safety of childhood into maturity. Holden, sitting on a bench watching these children on the edge of the cliff, cannot protect them from the fall. Holden explains this incapability as he admits, “if [children] want to grab for the gold 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” (232). Holden concludes that he cannot protect these children or himself from falling off the metaphorical cliff into adulthood; therefore, he abandons his dream of being the catcher in the rye and accepts his own transition into adulthood. Although Holden’s bold efforts proved incapable, the symbolism of cyclical objects conveys that Holden’s desire of endless innocence cannot transcend
Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist of Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggles with having to enter the adult world. Holden leaves school early and stays in New York by himself until he is ready to return home. Holden wants to be individual, yet he also wants to fit in and not grow up. The author uses symbolism to represent Holden’s internal struggle.
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.
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” revolves around the protagonist Holden Caulfield as the story is told from his perspective. J.D. Salinger constructed Holden Caulfield as a cynical person who cannot accept to grow up. Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye,” J.D. Salinger uses symbolism to reveal and reinforce critical aspects of the protagonist Holden Caulfield. Three important aspects Holden acquired through Salinger’s use of symbolism are: his stubborn, uncompromising mentality; his softer, more caring respectful side; Holden’s cowardly way of acting and thinking.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is seen by some critics a a drop out student destined for failure in life, but I see him as a symbol of an adolescent who struggles to adapt to the reality of adulthood.
Holden plays the role of the catcher in the rye by physically catching the children before they fall off the cliff proving that we all end up falling. Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to be, Holden responds, “if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them…I’d just be the catcher in rye and all” (Salinger 173). The cliff is symbolic of loss of innocence. Holden’s role of the catcher in the rye allows him to physically catch children before they fall off the cliff, therefore saving their innocence before they fall into adulthood. When the children fall off the cliff, it is much like the fall into adulthood, we fall in not looking where we are going and not knowing what to expect. Not only has Holden become obsessed with trying to preserve the innocence of children, but he also ends up having a nervous breakdown. Holden says to Phoebe, “I know it’s crazy…I know it’s crazy” (Salinger 173). Salinger’s use of repetition emphasizes the word crazy, therefore; foreshadowing that Holden will have a nervous breakdown and go crazy. Not only has Salinger’s use of repetition foreshadowed that Holden will go crazy, but so has Mr. Antolini....
This reveals Holden’s fantasy of an idealistic childhood and his role as the guardian of innocence. Preventing children from “going over the cliff” and losing their innocence is his way of vicariously protecting himself from growing up as well. Holden acknowledges that this is “crazy,” yet he cannot come up with a different lifestyle because he struggles to see the world for how it truly is, and fears not knowing what might happen next. Holden’s “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in a pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect it. This fantasy also represents his disconnection from reality, as he thinks he can stop the process of growing up, yet
The transition from a teen to an adult is one of the major steps in life. This major transition can be really scary. Some people are so scared of becoming an adult, that they try to keep their inner child alive. One person in the book The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, Holden is the main character in the novel written by J.D. Salinger. A prominent theme in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye is the painfulness of growing up. As this theme is going on through the novel, Salinger weaves in symbols that Holden happens to use and talk about throughout the novel.
“I was crying and all, I don’t know why, but I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (53), Holden says. As humans, we have a hard time belonging in society. This is the same case for Holden Caulfield, the main character from the Catcher in the Rye. The Catcher in the rye, a novel by J.D Salinger, is about Holden, a lost boy in desperate need of help. Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded by the world around him. He continually attempts to try and belong in a world in which he is isolating from. In this novel, Salinger uses symbols such as the red hunting hat, the ducks and Allie’s glove to support the theme, belonging and isolation.
In his novel Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger portrays childhood and adolescence as times graced by innocence when his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is faced with the reality of becoming an adult. Holden’s desperation to maintain his innocence and the manner in which he critiques those he deems to have lost theirs, emphasizes his immaturity and ignorance while highlighting the importance the author places on childhood.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
In The Catcher in the Rye, the carousel circles round and round, representing a stagnation in childhood. It remains the same as the children who ride it continue to grow older. When on the carousel, the goal is to reach for the gold ring with passed on the horse. If obtained, the rider could get a free ride. Holden says, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it. If they fall off, they fall off…” (Salinger 114). He may be admitting to himself that growing up and taking chances is necessary. He realizes by watching Phoebe and not riding the carousel himself that he has to let Phoebe experience her own failures. If she falls, then she falls, but he has to let her and he cannot protect her forever. Similarly, he has to face the idea that every child will eventually “fall” out of innocence and into adulthood. Holden cannot prevent this or save himself from becoming an adult; which scares him and as everyone around him hides from the rain, Holden stays watching the merry-go-round go round and round, and begins to cry. The phoniness of adulthood is unavoidable. The symbol of the merry-go-round in The Catcher in the Rye emulates the loss of innocence throughout a lifetime; and that people have to be able to fall to learn from themselves. In The Merry-Go-Round by Rainer Maria Rilke, the speaker is observing the merry-go-round and all aspects of life surrounding it. The ride itself represents life and how it continuously keeps turning no matter who is on it. The ride is too short – but the experiences that are made out of it define who someone is. Throughout the entirety of the poem, there is a conceit for life. Similar to Holden, Rilke writes, “A boy in white leans on the lion’s mane… as the lion shows its fearsome teeth and bite. And now and then an elephant, all white” (Rilke). The white elephant
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
Another symbol of coming of age is the carousel that was introduced towards the end of the novel. Phoebe had went on it, and when she asked Holden whether he was going to ride on it as well, he refused. The carousel is known as being childish, with only children known to be the one’s to ride it. This shows that Holden, who had a mind of a child throughout most of the novel, has started transitioning from the world of childhood to the world of adulthood.
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.