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“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules”( Salinger 12). The Catcher in the Rye is a coming- of- age novel by J.D Salinger, in which Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist is unable to play by the rules. His life has been full of very lonely experiences, great trauma and the pain of the loss of his innocence. He is an unusual sixteen year-old boy, who has been expelled from a private school because of academic failure. “Holden’s central goal is to resist the process of maturity itself” (Sparknotes). In The Catcher in the Rye, the catcher’s mitt is a symbol of Holden’s loss of innocence and is portrayed by Holden Caulfield and throughout the book. The symbol of the catcher's mitt is a recurring point that develops throughout the story.
The catcher’s mitt belonged to Holden’s brother, Allie. Holden’s younger brother, Allie, dies of leukemia three years before the start of the novel. Allie was brilliant, friendly, intellectual- according to Holden, he was smartest boy of the family. Holden loves his younger brother Allie a lot, so when he dies, Ho...
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 not to go home, enabling his parents to receive the letter that his headmaster 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.
In life there comes a time when everyone thinks that they are surrounded by phoniness. This often happens during the teen years when the person is trying to find a sense of direction. Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction in J.D. Salinger's, "The Catcher In The Rye." Holden has recently been expelled from Pency Prep for failing four out of his five classes. He decides to start his Christmas recess early and head out to New York. While in New York Holden faces new experiences, tough times and a world of "phony." Holden is surrounded by phoniness because that is the word he uses to identify everything in the world that he rejects.
When people think about baseball mitts, they often think about catching baseballs during a game. However, in The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger, a baseball mitt is used to represent many abstract ideas. Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old teenager, narrates the novel and tells the story from the day that he got kicked out of Pencey Prep. Holden frequently recalls his little brother, Allie, who died of leukemia when he was eleven years old. Holden carries Allie’s baseball mitt around in his suitcase wherever he goes because it is Holden’s only possession that used to belong to Allie. Through examining the recurrent image of Allie’s baseball mitt throughout the text, it is revealed that the glove represents emotions, isolation
Holden has a near obsession with the death of his younger brother Allie, who died at age thirteen due to leukemia. Holden had punched and broke all the windows in the garage out of anger; he says that his hands still hurt from the incident. Throughout the novel, Holden dwells on Allies’ death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, from the baseball mitt. Towards the end of the book, Holden proves again that he can’t cope with death. Phoebe, his younger sister, is putting him on the spot by asking him what he likes, but Holden can only think of two nuns and a boy, James W. Castle. James W. Castle was a boy who Holden had lent his sweater to, Castle died unfortunately by being thrown out of a window wearing Holden’s sweater. Another thing that haunts Holden is the fact that during roll call in class, his last name always is called after Castles’ last name. After the brief moment of reminiscing, Holden irritates Phoebe by saying, “I like Allie…”. He has trouble acknowledging the death of his brother.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger investigates the story of a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield who struggles to understand what his purpose in life is. The book is set in either 1948 or 1949 and takes place at Pencey Prep High School and New York. Holden Caulfield is the main character in the book; the other characters such as Stradlater, Jane Gallagher, Sally Hayes, and Phoebe Caulfield are all supporting characters. Sad and depressing components set the tone for the reader of Catcher in the Rye. There are four main symbols in Catcher in the Rye. These four main symbols include, the catcher in the rye, his red hunting hat, the ducks in central park, and the Museum of Natural History. Every one of these symbols exemplify that Holden does not want to grow up and that he wants to stay a kid where there are no problems. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger includes a colloquial and slangy diction whereas the tone is sad and depressing.
Allie's mitt was a very important symbol in Catcher In The Rye, the mitt had poems written all over it. Allie was Holden's little brother, he got leukemia and died in Maine. Allie's mitt symbolizes the innocence that Holden yearns for , Allie's innocence was preserved in the mitt. Allie died when he was young, he was still innocent. By dying young Allie stayed out of the phony, adult world. In some ways Holden wants to be Allie. Holden wanted to preserve his own innocence but he could not. A baseball mitt is a common part of childhood, so it has the "power" to preserve innocence. The most interesting part about Allie's mitt are the poems, a grown up would not be writing poems and reading them during the game, he would be competitive, and all he would want is to win. Allie was to innocent he did not care about winning he just wanted to play baseball.
The answer can be quite simple: Allie. Allie died when Holden was 13. Allie died of leukemia on July 18, 1946. His death was traumatic to Holden, because Allie was so young when he died. Holden probably wants to be a ‘catcher in the rye’ because Allie. He doesn’t think that children should have to experience the things that Allie did, and he thinks it’s unfair that Allie wasn’t able to have a fulfilling childhood because of his illness. Allie was one of the only people that Holden truly loved and was passionate about, which he why he wrote the essay on Allie’s baseball glove. He misses Allie and for some reason, feels guilty that Allie never got to experience the things that he
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. While in New York with the fencing team, Holden loses all of their equipment, then buys a red hunting hat.
David Malmfeldt Seidmen English10 P3 1/1/16 Holden The Duck Ducks are a reoccurring topic in "The Catcher In The Rye". The Represents his innocence, as he remembers them growing up and seeing the ducks. In" the Catcher in The Rye", the Ducks represent Holden's innocence because he fears it has vanished. Holden Connects the ducks to his childhood growing up in New York City, near the lagoon. As Holden faces challenges, he thinks about the ducks. As he gets kicked out of Pency , he wonders where the ducks disappear to , just as he wonders the same about himself. This shows the connection to the ducks and Holden. Holden acts as if he cares what happens to the ducks, but is just looking out for himself. If the ducks die, a part of his childhood
The Catcher In The Rye is about Holden Caulfield. Holden is a teenage boy who has many fears. However, his most notable one is his fear of change. At the start of the novel Holden has been expelled from school multiple times already. Holden’s thoughts and feelings describe his reaction to this event, and although the dialogue is of his own mind, his thoughts are still very open for interpretation. His thoughts help the reader understand his character and motives. Holden faces many problems as well. Holden is clearly depressed and we can see this through his actions and behavior. Important things such as the red hunting hat, Allie’s baseball mitt, and the ducks are symbols that represent fears Holden that change how he sees the world.
The biggest battle humans will ever fight in life is with themselves. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, a 17 year old boy named Holden finds himself within this battle to become something that he is not. He mentions throughout the novel about his hope to be a catcher in the rye. “In the passage that gives the book its title, Holden explains that he cannot imagine himself fitting into any of the roles that society expects him to perform, like growing up to be a lawyer or scientist. Instead, he can only imagine being a catcher in the rye who stands at the edge of a large rye field watching over and protecting little kids from danger” (The Catcher). This is a metaphor that shows how Holden wants to be a protector of the innocent that when these children fall from the cliff, he will be the one to “catch them”. In this novel, the idea of catching is portrayed through Holden as he is
“The Catcher in the Rye”, written by J.D Salinger is unarguably an old classic that will never get old. The novel is different to other young adult novels as Salinger develops the themes of the novel primarily through symbolism. The protagonist of the story, Holden Caulfield, embodies many distinctive personality traits which develop throughout the novel. Salinger also establishes many thematic ideas such as the protection of innocence and fear of adulthood. Symbols play a crucial role in the novel and are not dealt with sparingly which makes the story truly unique. Salinger uses the motifs phoniness and sex, as well as the direct symbol of the red hunting cap to convey the theme of protection of innocence as well as the struggle of growing
Allie’s baseball mitt is a very important symbol in the novel. It is connected to the novel, because the heart of the novel is Holden's grief over his brother's death and his inability to accept it. When Holden finds out that his brother Allie died, he is in denial because he refuses to accept Allie’s death. Holden is in denial because he thinks why his innocent brother had to die and not him. Because Holden needs help dealing with this grief he must always take out the mitt, and acknowledge his feelings over Allie in order to release himself from the guilt he feels. When Holden’s roommate at Pencey, Stradlater, asks him to write a descriptive essay, Holden writes about Allie’s baseball mitt. Holden treats the mitt differentially, taking it with him to Pencey and copying “down the poems that were written on it” (Salinger 38). For Holden, t...
In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger describes Holden as one who is struggling in growing up and making his own choices. He explains Holden’s journey into the transition from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. The author brings up the red hunting hat a variety of times while on his journey.
Holden’s dream career of being the catcher in the rye, is symbolic. He says to phoebe that his job would be to catch the kids from falling off the cliff near the rye field where the kids are playing. The kids playing in the field symbolizes childhood and the field is symbolizing innocence. The cliff is symbolizing the idea of falling from the innocence, growing up. Holden is consistently troubled by aging throughout the book. He is frightened by change and has a difficult time understanding its complexity. Instead of acknowledging his fears of adulthood, he ignores them and over idolizes childhood. He creates this black and white world where childhood is innocence, curiosity, honesty, and the adult world is full of phoniness. The concept of the catcher in the rye is really where Holden reveals his thoughts on this. He wishes to save the kids from falling from the cliff, to