Holden Symbolism In Catcher In The Rye

In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the main character Holden experiences a massive amount of struggle. One major struggle he experiences is depression. Many teenagers can relate to Holden because throughout the novel he shows some of the struggles that anyone could be going through. While I was reading I felt sympathy for Holden and wanted to reach out and help him get through his struggles. There are many red flags repeatedly showing Holden being depressed. These red flags are not only found in Holden but can be noticed in other people who are depressed.

The carousel and gold ring finally allow Holden to accept change as a natural part of life and that it is necessary for one to grow as a person. Holden buys a ticket for Phoebe, his kid sister, to ride the carousel but refuses her offer to go on as well. Instead, he sits and watches: “ I went over and sat down on this bench and she went and got on the carousel” (211). By doing this, Holden chooses to no longer be a child. He starts to accept that he needs to start maturing and watches Pheobe, like the other adults are watching their children. This is a step in the right direction for Holden as up until this point in the novel, he has refused to change because of his fear. While Holden watches Phoebe ride the carousel, he watches her reach for the gold ring. As she reaches, Holden thinks to

Holden wears the hat backwards, and he admits it looks corny, but he thinks it looks good on him that way. The way he wears his hat makes him resemble a baseball catcher. This connects to Holden’s dream he tells Phoebe he had in the book where he is catching children.

The hat makes Holden feel protected as if he does not need anyone. It is like the way a pacifier or a teddy bear works to comfort a child. Holden says, “After he left, I put on my pajamas and bathrobe and my old hunting hat, and started writing the composition” (49). Holden writes this intricate composition about his brother’s baseball mitt. He waits until his roommate leaves in order to wear the hat and it makes him feel protected. It is odd that he wears his hat inside, but it just reinforces the fact that the hat symbolizes the will to describe his emotions. He manages to write a heartfelt paper in which his brother’s memory becomes a vivid reality for him. Holden remains attached to the image of his brother. He cares about his siblings immensely and he finds a way to always carry them along with him. His red hunting hat is a representation of his brother Allie that died of leukemia in his innocence. Both of his siblings have red hair and the color of his hunting hat is red. Holden reflects that, “People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did and he had very red hair” (50). He buys this hat to remember the memories of innocence and love he shared with his brother. The hat is also a reminder that the only sibling he has left is Phoebe and she is dear to his heart because of her innocence and

Salinger uses the red hunting hat as a very prominent and recurring symbol. Because of the hat’s distinct look, it serves as a way of showing that Holden is an independent and unusual person. He also wears it in a strange way “with the peak around to the back” (Salinger 27). The hat acts as protection for Holden. He wears it when it is raining while Phoebe is on the carousel, and he says, “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway” (213). The hat gives him a sense of protection from many things, from adulthood to phonies. The hat is also red, much like Allie and Phoebe’s hair. Salinger didn’t include this similarity on accident. This shows that the hat represents the genuinity and

Along with the notion that the death of a loved one can affect a person’s relationship with themselves, is the idea that the death could also affect a person’s relationships with others. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye we can see that Holden is isolated from everyone else in the novel, yet before Allie’s death Holden appears to have had a normal childhood. Holden recalls playing checkers with Jane (Salinger 31) and going golfing (38), but after Allie’s death he seems to begin to pull away from society. Holden was very close to his brother, so it was probably difficult for him to continue with his normal life when nothing was the same anymore, even feeling wrong to continue living and having fun while Allie is gone and unable do these things

Holden shuts out his emotions to keep himself from feeling too deeply, revealing his insecurities towards showing who he is inside. When talking about his late brother, Allie, he walls up to stop any sadness from coming up to the surface. He talks about it in a way that plays it off like he doesn’t mind, and tries to seem nonchalant about what happened. When he says “He’s dead now,” Holden hints at his true feelings but chooses to stay blunt and conversational to avoid getting too far over his head. In order to not let it take him, he hides his emotions and puts on a facade. However, when he gives further detail about what happened, Holden still remembers it well, saying he “got leukemia and died” during a family trip to Maine on “July 18,

J.D. Salinger began the process of writing his first novel The Catcher in the Rye, just after being released from a mental hospital. According to mentalfloss.com. Salinger being a WWII veteran caused many to believe that he checked himself into the hospital due to the grim memories of the war. However, Salinger’s quiet profile prevents people from truly knowing him and his reasonings. As a reader it is your job to decipher the author's writing, that being said, because of Salinger’s reserved personality symbolism plays a big role in understanding his novel. In the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Salinger uses symbolism to represent the larger ideas of the book. The ducks in the Central Park Lagoon, Holden’s red hunting hat, and the carrousel are symbols that are important to the overall understanding of the Catcher in the Rye.

When Holden describes his brother and is talking about his red hair, Holden doesn’t seem to understand how much the hair sticks out to him. Holden talks about how Allie was able to stay calm even with his red hair even though that doesn’t seem to have any real significant to us as the readers. Holden’s girl, Phoebe, means so much to him, “But you ought to see old Phoebe. She has this sort of red hair, a little bit like Allie's was, that's very short in the summertime” (Salinger 75). Holden is bragging about his sister, which is cute.

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, was a skilled writer who included many distinct symbols in his writing. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger strategically placed objects around Holden, the protagonist, that have deeper meanings than their initial appearance. Holden is struggling with his own mental state and how he perceives the world around him. Throughout the novel, Holden refers to the people around him as ‘phonies’. This is perhaps because he is struggling with his own self-image and insecurity about being authentic and mature. Holden struggles with the idea of childhood innocence and he wants to protect his sister, Phoebe, from the harsh reality of adulthood. When Holden takes his sister to the carousel, he anxiously watches as she reaches for the gold ring, which in this case symbolises adulthood. Another reoccurring symbol in The Catcher in the Rye is Holden's red hunting hat. In his times of need, Holden would put on his hat as a way to isolate himself from the world around him. The strategic use of symbolism throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye gives the reader insight into the mind of Holden and how he perceives the world.

After leaving the ice skating rink, Holden decides to give Jane a call since he is free the whole evening. He plans to invite her dancing after remembering how well of a dancer she is when he saw her dance with her date Al Pike a while back. Holden does not like him very much, he thinks Al is a big showoff but Jane thinks Al just has an inferiority complex and goes on, to himself, about how girls view guys depending on whether they like them or not. When Holden gives Jane a call she does not pick up so he rings up Carl Lucas instead. They both attended Whooton School together and Holden does not like him very much but thinks of Carl as an intellectual guy and anticipates that it would be nice to have an intellectual conversation with him over

The author has put in plenty of themes, messages, ideas, issues, and motifs. The character, Holden Caulfield is alienated from society, is experiencing the painfulness of growing up, thinks that the adult world is full of phoniness, and is sick of hearing about the American Dream from his teachers. JD Salinger has created a book that has raised plenty of questions and controversy towards the readers. The Catcher in the Rye shows how a teenage mind works. JD Salinger has used a stream of consciousness writing style where the character (Holden Caulfield) talks in first person as he presents his thoughts and feelings to the readers. The setting has taken place in the early fifties and the book uses a lot of profane words. The New York

Furthermore, both Salinger and Shelley display an effective use of motifs which also assist in demonstrating the theme of innocence and corruption. The most recognized motif used by Salinger is without a doubt Holden’s red hunting hat. Salinger suggests that the hat is a symbol of Holden’s uniqueness and individuality. The hat is a bit strange, which shows Holden’s desire to be different from everyone else, thus isolating himself from others. It is worth noticing that the colour of the hat, red, is the same as that of Allie and Phoebe’s hair. Perhaps Holden associates his hat with the

Everyone in the society can have some influences in any way, negatively or positively. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden encounters many people throughout his journey. These relationships he has influence his view of the world, allowing him to mature from someone who dislikes the shallow cruel world to understanding this is how life is. This development is shown through "phonies" he meets throughout the novel, his brother Allie, and his sister Phoebe.

But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game” (8). Holden does not understand Spencer’s metaphor. Holden believes that life can only be a game if people are given advantages. From his point of view, he is one of the unlucky ones, but in reality he is on the side with the hot-shots, because he is given many advantages that others are not. Salinger emphasizes Holden’s immaturity in a very subtle way by having Holden’s authority figures always calling him “boy”. Both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini call Holden “boy”. Of Spencer, Holden says, “I wished to hell he’d stop calling me ‘boy’ all the time” (12) and then later on, Antolini tells Holden, “You’re a very, very strange boy” (193). Both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini recognize and acknowledge Holden’s immature behaviour in calling him “boy”. This only stresses the fact that Holden cannot seem to realize he is acting more like a child than a teenager. Holden’s red hunting hat is a very important symbol in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden uses this hat as a way to hide from society. He says, “That hat I bought had earlaps in it, and I put them on–I didn’t give a damn how I looked. Nobody was around anyway” (53). Holden thinks that wearing his red hunting hat makes him an individual, but in reality, he will only wear it when no one is around to judge him. It is his immaturity that makes him believe that he is being unique,