Free Catcher In The Rye Essays: Finding Holden's Identity

Finding Holden's Identity
Many young people find themselves searching for their identity and most adolescents would be confused on what to do with their life. In J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield tends to be an outcast from society and is constantly searching for his identity. Salinger uses three symbols in the novel to convey the theme that many young people find themselves searching for their identity. This theme is represented in the red hat Holden wears, the ducks in the frozen lagoon, and the suitcases that the nuns carry.
Throughout the novel, Holden wears a very outlandish red hunting hat. He always mentions when he is wearing the hat and when he is not. Holden would wear this hat because it “really

gave [him] a lot of protection, in a way, but [he] got soaked anyway” (Salinger 212-213). When Holden claims that his hat gives him protection, he alludes to his hat protecting him from society. Although he feels protected from being a normal person, he still wishes to fit in a way. Holden is befuddled about his own identity and is searching for one throughout his journey in life. Holden is insecure when wearing the hat because he has not found his identity, and is confused on who he is. Holden is stuck between whether or not he accepts his own identity in society. Holden’s red hat has “earflaps in it, and [he] put them on--[he] didn't give a damn how [he] looked. Nobody was around anyway” (53.) In the context of the situation, Holden is currently walking towards the train station. When he says that “nobody” is around he implies that nobody who holden personally knows is around him. Holden does not feel comfortable wearing the hat near people he knows, contrary to strangers because Holden is still searching for his identity. Holden is a young man who asks a lot of questions. The most frequent questions he asks allude to his identity.
Holden brings up the question of where the ducks go in the winter multiple times in the novel.

Whether he thinks about it or asks someone else, he is always curious about the question. When holden is talking with Mr. Spencer, he wonders “where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over” (13). At this part of the novel Holden knows that he is going to leave Pencey Prep and that he yet again failed another school. The ducks in this passage allude to Holden, and the frozen lagoon is an allegory for his life and the world around him. Holden thinks about the ducks because he is stranded in life, and cannot find his own identity. When Holden left Pencey Prep for New York, he repeatedly asks many people where the ducks go when the lagoon freezes over. Holden has again introduced the topic of where the ducks go in the winter. When Horwitz is asked about the ducks he says, “If you was a fish, Mother Nature’d take care of you, wouldn't she? Right? You don’t think them fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?” (83). Horwitz suddenly brings up discussion about the fish because he views them as normal people is society. He says that “Mother Nature’d take care of” them. However, Horwitz does not talk about the ducks because they are outcasts in society. Holden still has not figured out his identity and being compared to fish make him question who he is. It is revealed that Holden has many likes and dislikes. He likes his red hat, but he cannot stand phony

people. One thing he despises is people with cheap suitcases.
When Holden is talking about the suitcases with the two nuns, it is revealed that he is still searching for his identity.

Holden digresses to being roommates with Dick Slagle and claims that “It’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs” (108). The suitcases in this passage allude to the social class of people, and the nicer the suitcase the better in life you are. Holden does not want to be compared with someone who has a worse
suitcase because he has not found his identity, and is not confident in who he is. Even though Holden hates the way suitcases define people when the nuns are seen with cheap suitcases, he says, “It sounds terrible to say, but I can even get to hate somebody, Just by looking at them, if the have a cheap suitcase with them” (109). Holden does not like the fact that people have different suitcases because he wants to fit into society. He wants to be similar to the people around him but also wants to be an outcast in society. Holden is not confident of his own identity and is still searching for one to grasp on

to.
Although many adolescents believe that they have found their identity, those who think they have found one are not so confident in who they are. In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield feels adrift in society. This is shown when Holden wears his red hunting hat when he talks about the ducks in the frozen lagoon, and when he talks about suitcases. It is very difficult for a young person to find their identity, and thinks could take years to occur. Most teenagers would go through this struggle of choosing their identity and having confidence in it.