J.D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye, recites the story of Holden who is in process of finding and revealing who he is. The perception given to him in the beginning of the novel is different than what the reader will have at the end of the book. The young student has trouble recognising his passions which lead him to misadventures resulting in his self revelation. The symbols appearance lead to something greater. Salinger utilizes symbols to explore and foreshadow Holden’s revelation. The symbols of the museum, the ducks, and graffiti on the wall are all connecting to the final revelation of Holden. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye displays innocent breaking elements that symbolize Holden’s final revelation as the catcher at the end of the …show more content…
novel. Salinger makes use of the symbol of the Natural History museum to represent Holden’s ideal world and how that thought accumulates to divulge who he ought to be.
“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121). Salinger portrays Holden’s view on how he would like the world to be simple and innocent. “The only thing that would be different would be different would be you” (121). With change comes growth. The beginning of Holden’s realization begins when he views himself as a mentally different person. “If Phoebe's been there, I probably would have, but she wasn’t” (122). Holden has a sudden loss in interest to enter the museum. He realizes that there is a contrast between Phoebe and himself. He continues to lose innocence and childing meaning as more symbols continue to appear that lead him to reveal …show more content…
himself. Salinger utilizes the recurrence of the ducks in Central Park to symbolize Holden’s transition to his revelation. Holden continues to question others and himself about where the ducks go during the wintertime. “‘ Do you happen to know, by any chance?’ I realized it was only one chance in a million” (60). Holden’s curious spirit reveals the remaining child inside him. “You don’t think them fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?” (83). He makes a pure connection between the ducks and fishes to conclude indeed what happened to the ducks. The reasoning he produced is childish so the ducks itself are the innocent because of the childish meaning that Holden put on them. However, Holden loses his innocence when they are not around anymore. “I thought maybe if they were any around, they might be asleep or something near the edge of the water, near the grass and all” (154). Salinger’s symbol of the ducks is a representation of revelation of innocence seen in Holden and the disappearance of innocence. The use of graffiti writing on Pheobe school wall is the final and ultimate process of Holden’s revelation.
Holden appears at her Phoebe, his old school as well, to communicate a message to her. As he continues, he realizes the writing of inappropriate language in a school of young students. “It drove me damn near crazy” (201). Holden's reaction is standing up for his moral beliefs. Kids in Phoebe’s age group should not be exposed to such lurid content. “... if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them” (166). Holden puts the responsibility on himself to protect the concept childhood. He finally reveals what he identifies to have yearn
for. The disappearing of innocence is present in the museum, innocence is leaving when the ducks leave, and Holden realizes the loss of innocence with the writing on the wall. Salinger uses these symbols to break away from innocence, in other words, child. To finally come to understanding with self and who Holden ought to be. The use of symbolism is a circuitous way to indicate Holden’s direction and comprehension to lead him to the revelation.
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
... has to go away. He runs to Phoebe’s school to leave her a note to meet him. While he’s waiting he notices “Fuck you” (201) on the wall. “It drove me damn near crazy,” he thought. Holden sees Phoebe with her suitcase as she tells him, “I’m going with you. Can I? Okay?” (206) Holden’s response was “No. Shut up”. Phoebe got angry and didn’t let up until Holden agreed that he wouldn’t leave. She went on the carrousel in the park and while she was going around and around, Holden felt so happy that, “[he] was damn near bawling”. (213)
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.
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
...e simplistic, idealistic and perfect vision of life that Holden wishes he could live. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.”
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.
This demonstrates that Holden has this mindset and believes that he isn't ageing because he occasionally believes that he is thirteen most of the time. He's trying to resist adulthood because that’s when all his issues began. In addition, when Holden took Phoebe to a museum he really enjoyed his time there because of how everything was put. Holden sated “the best thing though in the museum was that everything always stayed right where it is. Nobody´d move. You could go hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole … Nobody's be different” (Salinger 121). This conveys that Holden is fond of the museum because it doesn't change unlike other places he is surrounded which relates to the death of his brother Allie, who died of leukemia. He believes that when his brother died, his whole world shifted as a result, his parent isolated themselves from him and connects to the reason Holden is unable to acknowledge that his urge is to never change like a
...oes want them to turn into “phonies.” Holden seeks for a peaceful and uncorrupt world but he cannot obtain that due to the actions of others. Despite Holden’s attitude and outlook on life, he is quite passionate. Although he is a firm pessimist, calling every person he comes across a “phony,” there is an alternate side to him. In his interaction with Phoebe and the other children in the book, he tries to protect them from the rest of society, since children are still naïve and pure. It is justifiable why Holden craves to preserve the innocence of others. For most of us, growing up, we begin to understand more. We start to look at life in a different perspective, different from the one we did when we were young, but as a person who has seen and experienced more in life.
...When Holden concludes that you have to just let a kid go for what they want to do, even though they might get hurt doing so, he might be saying admitting growing up is in fact significant for Phoebe and for himself. He learns that he cannot protect a child from doing what they want to do, so he realizes that he should let them be.
Holden shows a particular liking towards children over adults. He values the innocence and authenticity of children and he tries to protect them from the phoniness and evil of the world. When he goes back to his old school at the end of the novel to give a note to Phoebe, he sees an obscenity on the wall that infuriates him. He says, "Somebody'd written `F*** you' on the wall. It drove me near damn crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it" (201). When Holden's sister Phoebe demands that he tell her one thing that he really likes, Holden's responds saying, "I like Allie...And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking and thinking about stuff..." (171), showing that he's most content in the simple and innocent world of his childhood.
To begin with, Holden’s love for the innocence and purity of childhood makes him very hesitant to transition into an adult life. Generally, he finds children to be straightforward, easygoing, and simply pure in every way. This is because they always say what they mean, and never try to set a false façade for...
Holden visits a place he used to go to during his childhood, the Museum of Natural history. that symbolizes a world where nothing has to change. Holden wishes he can apply the same thing to his life.While Holden thinks about the memories he had at the museum, he realizes the reason that liked it so much is that he could count on everything to stay the same, “ The best thing though in that museum was that everything right where it was. Nobody’d move… the only thing that would be different is you” (Salinger 157). Holden knows that he has become different, and he recognizes this in the quote. He knows that he holds less innocence than the last time he visited the museum. Holden’s fear of change is evident in this quote as he is afraid of becoming
While at Pheobe’s school to give her a note, Holden sees a sign of adult immaturity that shocks him. "Somebody’d written "Fuck you" on the wall.” (221) This angers Holden in a way that seems quite uncharacteristic for him because “I thought how Pheobe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant, then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, naturally-what it meant, and how they’d all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days.” This reaction from Holden displays how horrified he is by adults and their acts of immaturity which are quite different than childhood immaturity. This encounter displays a darker more adult issue that Holden thinks children should not be exposed to. It also exhibits his obsession with preserving the innocence of his sister and her peers. This is an example of Holden trying to save his sister from “the
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is a heartfelt depiction of the challenges teenagers may face. From the stressfulness of school, the difficulty of making friends, to the hardships of understanding and adapting to adulthood. After failing out of four prep schools, and losing contact with loved ones, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is lost and confused. To better express the feelings of Holden, Salinger strategically places a variety of symbols throughout the novel. Most notably, Holden’s red hunting hat, Allie’s baseball glove, and the ducks in central park. Despite the significance of the baseball glove and the hunting hat, the ducks in Central Park have the most direct importance to Holden and hold the greatest symbolic meaning
However, nothing really changes his thought until he gets to talk to his sister, Phoebe. When she asked him what Holden really wants to do with his life, he explained to her saying “I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all” ( Salinger 191).This shows how he wants to protect the innocent and keep that innocence forever in each of the kids same as himself. Nonetheless, He now realizes that keeping innocence for the kid is not possible. One day when he was walking down the staircase he said “ I saw another ‘Fuck you’ signs on the wall. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn't come off. It’s hopeless, anyway. If you had million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the ‘Fuck you’ sign” (Salinger 222). This perfectly shows how its not possible to cover everything in the world and so Holden must let the kid grow up and see everything because it is not possible to keep the innocence inside of them their whole life and by not letting go of that innocence, it might be a danger to the kid