Holden Caulfield Symbolism

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One of the most significant symbols in the book is the catcher in the rye. Holden wants to be the person that stands on the edge of a cliff in a rye field and catches kids before the fall over (Author Pg. #). The rye field symbolizes childhood and innocence, and Holden feels that all kids should have this and be able to hold onto it if possible. When a child falls or is on the verge of falling, it signifies they are about to enter the world of adult hood. This symbol has an important role in the story because it is an illustration of how Holden sees the world around him. For example, when Holden was waiting on Phoebe at the museum, he saw vulgar language written on the wall that implied sexual content and felt disgusted (Author Pg. #). The …show more content…

When Holden fell off the cliff and went into adulthood, he was alone. He did not have anyone there to help him or keep him from falling entirly. Holden wants to be there for kids to keep them from ending up like him. Towards the end of the book, Holden tries to confide in Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini is trying to save Holden from the fall he is about to have, and Holden realizes it but is imagining a different kind of fall. Mr. Antolini believes that Holden is about to fall because he has given up while Holden is thinking that he is about to fall because of his innocence being lost. This connects to the symbol of the catcher in the rye because Holden always knew that he was innocence was diminishing, but he had no way of stopping it or to tell how he was feeling about it. He used tactics such as lying, sexual attempts, and anger to deflect him from reality and his emotions. Thus, leaving Holden to feel isolated. When Phoebe asks Holden what he wanted to do in life, he said that he wanted to be the catcher in the rye. This was his answer because he wants to help catch other children because he could not catch himself. Throughout the novel, Holden would rather be alone because that where he felt safe and was sheltered from the outside world. Consequently, this kept him from viewing the world which lead him to create an over simplistic

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