All throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D Salinger employs to define and identify the main character Holden Caulfield. One of the most recurring symbols is the ducks and fish in the Central Park lagoon. Holden is constantly wondering about where the ducks go in the winter, ignorant to the fact that all birds fly south to avoid cold temperatures. Holden brings up this question to his first taxi driver after leaving Pencey and again to the driver called Horwitz. Both drivers did not really answer his question; however, Horowitz told Holden to worry about the fish instead of the ducks. Horwitz tells Holden that the fish are frozen in the ice, and that Mother Nature takes care of them. The fish are stuck in the ice just like …show more content…
Holden is stuck between childhood and adulthood. Holden is the fish. The ducks, however, are not completely forgotten. The ducks fly away to escape the problem of winter.
Before Holden’s younger brother, Allie’s death his older brother D.B. would write stories for his younger siblings. However, after Allie died, D.B. went to Hollywood to write movie scripts. Furthermore, Allie’s death was D.B.’s winter. D.B. is like the ducks flying away from the lagoon to escape winter. However, in the eyes of Holden, D.B is “out in Hollywood, D.B, being a prostitute.” (Page 2) Holden does not realize that D.B is also dealing with Allie’s death. Moreover, the ducks and the fish represent Holden and D.B along with Allie’s death being the winter. The ducks are able to leave the pond in Central Park during the winter. The fish cannot leave because, according to Horwitz, the fish “get frozen right in one position for the whole winter.” (Page 82) Holden the fish cannot let go of Allie’s death, so he is always trapped in his own winter--frozen in the ice of his …show more content…
life. Along with his two brothers, Holden also has a little sister named Phoebe.
Holden buys Phoebe a vinyl record called Little Shirley Beans. This record breaks while Holden is drunkenly walking throughout New York City. This record is representative of childhood and innocence. The song itself is about “a little kid that wouldn’t go out of the house because two of her front teeth were out and she was ashamed to.” (Page 114) The little girl in the song is afraid of the changes, like losing teeth, that accompany getting older and more mature, just like how Holden does not want to get older. The record itself was five dollars, which is worth around fifty dollars in 2018. The whole record is symbolic down to the price. Holden is willing to pay anything to avoid the harsh reality that is getting older. Finally, the record “breaks into about fifty pieces.” (Page 154) When the record breaks, it represents Holden’s loss of innocence. All Holden wanted was to protect his childhood and not cross into adulthood. Holden protected the record, “in a big envelope and all.” (Page 154) Despite the fact that the record broke, Holden still decided to give it to Phoebe. Phoebe, took the pieces, “right out of [Holden’s] hand and then she put them in the drawer of the night table.” (Page 164) When Phoebe did this, it is symbolic of Phoebe holding onto the memory of Holden’s childhood and innocence. Phoebe takes the pieces of Holden’s innocence and keeps them close to her. So although Holden will be
crossing the threshold into adulthood very soon, Phoebe will always hold onto the small pieces and memories. This is an eye opener for Holden because he has realized that although he will never have eternal youth, like Allie does, Holden will always have someone to remember his innocent side. Making it possible for Holden to move on from Allie’s death. Ultimately, J.D Salinger was masterful when it came to his use of symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye. From the debate of fish and ducks to the importance of the Little Shirley Beans record. Salinger took things no one would have thought twice about and gave them a deeper meaning, making it possible for Holden Caulfield to finally escape the winter of Allie’s death, to the spring that is adulthood.
Allie, his brother, was ripped away from him in a tragic accident. Then, Holden was immediately sent to a school where he was taunted and shunned by his classmates. As shown by Holden’s feelings with the ducks in the pond, he is still trying to find his innocence: “ ‘You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? THat little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know here they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know?’ ” (60). Holden is desperately trying to hold on to his sense of innocence because he is afraid of growing up and facing his
In chapter 2 of The Catcher in the Rye Holden ponders while conversing with his teacher “where the ducks go when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over.” Holden views himself as one of the ducks that are forced to adapt
He has nothing but nice things to say about her and wants to protect her. She makes many adult observations that you would not expect a ten year old to notice, yet still acts like a ten year old. She realizes that Holden got kicked out of school, and then responds by repeating, “Daddy’ll kill you!”(214). She corrects Holden about the words in a Robert Burns poem and realizes that Holden does not like anything, yet at the same time acts like a ten year old. She resembles Holden in the way she goes between adulthood and childhood. She is like a younger version of Holden. Holden wants to protect her and keep her from ending up like him. Holden gives his hunting hat to Phoebe, this shows how much he cares about her. He is able to give up the symbol of his independence and accept that he has ties to his family. The only time Holden is happy during his trip is when he takes Phoebe to the carousel. After deciding not to run away Holden realizes, “The thing with kids is, if they 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,” (274). At this point he realizes that growing up might not be the worst thing in the world and that even if he gets hurt in the process it is something he needs to
Holden twice inquired about the “disappearing” ducks in Central Park. When the pond is frozen in the winter, where would the ducks go? This symbolizes that Holden is curious about his own mortality which was affected him by his brother’s death. So he came here to look for answers, but he didn’t find any duck. “I nearly fell in, but I couldn’t find any…Boy, I was still shivering like a bastard… I thought I probably get pneumonia and die.” (154)
The novel The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield for a weekend. The story begins in Agerstown, PA at Pencey Prep school with Holden standing on top of the Thomson Hill on his way to Mr. Spencer’s, his history teacher, to say good bye because Holden was expelled for not following rules. On his way to Spencer’s, Holden “felt like [he] was sort of disappearing”. (Salinger 5) The sense of symbolism with the word “disappearing” is that he feels alone and almost invisible. When Mr. Spencer starts to read Holden’s failed paper, Holden starts to daydream about “wondering where ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over” (13) in Central Park in New York. The symbolic significance in this comment is that Holden is frozen in adolescence.
record. Holden buys this record for Phoebe as a gift, but drops it and breaks it while he is drunk.
When Holden attempts to make connections with other people in the city but is unsuccessful, Salinger shows that he focuses too much on what society expects from him rather than what he wants. While Holden walks through the city and pond in the park, he notices ducks. He later takes a cab and while talking with Horwitz the cab driver Holden asks him,
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?
One crucial conversation is with the taxi driver regarding the ducks in Central Park. The conversation seems trivial, of no real significance. However, for Holden it has great importance. His concern about where do the ducks go in the winter seems to deal with the question that young people have about what their direction is in life. The cab driver, Horwitz, responds to an irritating question from Holden: “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? (Salinger 83) The answer is clear to Holden. Everything will survive the winter, no matter if it’s a duck or a fish. However, this does not give Holden a guarantee of protection from what he fears most-becoming a phony or more importantly, having no choice to become phony in order to
A scene where she shows her influence over Holden is where Holden states, “I kept thinking about old Phoebe going to that museum on Saturdays the way I used to see, I thought how she’d see the same stuff I used to see, and how she’d be different every time she saw it… Certain thing is they should stay the way they are… I know that’s impossible, but it’s too bad anyway.” Holden shows his fear of change. He also demonstrates that he does not want to change, and does not want to grow up, but to stay as a kid.
At various points during the course of the novel, Holden inquires as to what happens to the ducks who are normally on a pond in Central Park, when winter comes and the water freezes. As he inquires, the answers he receives range from as farfetched answers as the idea that the ducks still remain there under the ice, just as the fish do, to uncaring answers such as a simple "What a stupid question!" remark. Despite the answer he gets, Holden is never satisfied with the reply. Holden doesn’t consciously realize that the ducks relate to him. Whether he will admit it or not, Holden is scared. He has been kicked out of numerous schools, he can’t get good grades, his parents are angry with him, and he spends his days wandering through New York City. He doesn’t know where he is going to go, reflecting his question about the ducks. Perhaps if he knew where the ducks went, he could follow their example.
One final illustration of Holden’s misconception of death is evident in Chapter 12, on pages 81-82. In this instance Holden once again poses the question of what happens to the ducks in the lake in Central Park during the winter. This driver, Horowitz, responds much more climactically than the anonymous driver in Chapter 9. , and he provides a ardent series of remarks. Horowitz changes the subject of the conversation from ducks to fish, because he can cope with them. Horowitz is also a believer of the rightness of things. His departing comment: "Listen,…if you was a fish, Mother Nature’d take care of you, wouldn’t she?
...ing stays frozen and everyone belongs in society. Therefore, during the winter time, the ducks are isolated as once, but they still belong together. Holden is isolated from the people around him and he is more protected within himself. Holden doesn’t know how he is going to make it through his own winter, just like he doesn’t where the ducks will end up during winter.
Maturity is not something that you are born with, it is a learned ability. The difference between kids becoming teens and eventually adults is the level of their maturity. However, some kids have a harder time maturing then others, and some just refuse to do it. In the book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is a teenager adventuring through New York City after he got kicked out of Pencey Prep. Throughout those few days in the city Holden has many encounters with different people, a prostitute, girls in a bar, Carl Luce and more showing his level of immaturity each time. By the end of the book Holden made decisions that could be seen as maturing. Even though Holden went through a little maturing, by the
Holden Caulfield alienates himself from the rest of society to hopefully escape the means of growing up shown by his dialogue and behaviour. Holden doesn’t want to grow up because he doesn’t want to have to accept the responsibilities that come with it. Holden is constantly getting kicked out of different schools, “They kicked me out… on account that… I was not applying myself and all.” (pg. 3) Not only was Holden not applying himself at school slowing down the process of him growing up, he also kept his mindset young by wondering where the ducks go in winter. “You know those ducks on that lagoon… do you happen to know where they go… when it gets frozen over?” (pg. 54) Holden has a close connection to the ducks as to him it is a change that isn’t permanent as they leave in the Winter and come back in the spring, he asks where they go to see if he can make this un-permanent connection to changes such as growing up in his own life. Holden would love to live in a world where everything is time is practically frozen and nothing ...