More handpicked essays just for you.
Quotes with analysis for catcher in the rye
Quotes with analysis for catcher in the rye
Character analysis holden caulfield
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Throughout the story, Holden struggles with the idea of growing up. He is scared to grow up, but ironically, he does many things that adults would or could only do, like go out to bars and drink alcohol. While reminiscing about home, Holden thinks about the lagoons in Central Park and what happened when “it would be frozen over.. and if it was, where did the ducks go?” (Salinger 13). This is significant because it is symbolic of Holden worrying about what will happen when he grows up.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? (79)”, this quote is from the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.
All in all Holden and the ducks are both isolating themselves from society. While the ducks get satisfaction from warmer weather, Holden gets his from the hat. Also the Frozen pond means that nothing is changing and makes Holden realize while he is changing, the pond is not and it is the same, just like the
The ducks are usually being mentioned when they talk about frozen images, for example when Holden was “wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over?”(16, Salinger) as he was driving in a taxi and asking a stranger such a question. Holden's mind was so concentrated into finding out where the ducks go, and where he should go, that he ended up asking a random taxi driver where do the ducks end up going when it gets all frozen over? He is so desperate knowing that he asks that again later in the book, “Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks when it gets all frozen over?” (67, Salinger) Again Holden feels the need to ask a taxi driver where do ducks go, since he hasn't gotten a proper answer from the previous one.
go south or something?” (99) this option suggests that he should go through his rough teenage years without anybody’s help and perhaps even escape till he is mature and responsible. Holden is trying to answers these question through comparing himself to the duck and how they overcome these challenges. The ducks flying south is the option that Holden is looking for in order to grow up and become mature and have a successful life. The duck motif is present throughout this chapter because Holden is using it to figure out what he is going to
He is interested in the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon, which J.D. Salinger uses as a symbol because Holden sees them leaving in Fall when it is getting colder and then they come back in Spring, which makes him think of the idea of “Rebirth”. He talks about them with the taxi driver. (“where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know by any chance?) Later, he takes a walk in the park.(what the hell were the ducks doing?)
Isabella Tejeda “Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” (Salinger 66) In between many of the themes found in the Catcher in the Rye, youth seems to be one that is mentioned in every chapter. Holden Caulfield is a seventeen year old boy who is obsessed with his youth, where he wants things to always stay the same.
When entering the cab, he instinctively instructs the driver to take him to his house by mistake. “I’m so damn absent-minded, I gave the driver my regular address, just out of habit and all” (60). By giving the driver his home address, Holden is showing that he should go home to his parents but he is not ready to face them. Because he is immature, Holden believes he can live in the city alone, and refuses to admit that he still needs the protection of his parents. A Lost and confused boy, Holden resorts to the question of the ducks.
In the beginning of the novel Holden is back with his parents because he references it and in a way uses pre tense but it seems as though holden is talking as the story is actually happening. The significance of Holden referencing David copperfield is that it means the something bad happen to him becuase the david copperfield he’s talking about is the comedian. When Holden left the equipment on the subway it shows that he is not very responsible and doesn't want to take the blame for leaving the things on the subway and he kind of ignores it.
This anxiety stands as an indication that he is worried about where children are going to go as they are entering adulthood. Holden wants to know “where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. [He] wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something” (13). The ducks, harmless, carefree, and fragile, represent children. Both children and the ducks are very unprepared for what lies ahead of them.
Catcher in the Rye Timed Write The novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a novel about a depressed, moody, and troubled teen named Holden who runs away from school and roams the city of New York. The major theme in this novel that constantly recurs is alienation as a form of self protection. The motif that drives this theme throughout the novel is loneliness. To begin with, Holden is finds himself in a situation where he is constantly depressed and annoyed with everything, including his own roommates at Pencey.
In Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, audiences witness the shifts in attitudes and personalities in both Dashwood sisters as they mature and finally recognizes the value that Austen endorses – moderation. The value of moderation instead of Romanticism and Neo-classicism is suggested through the conflicts of Elinor’s institutional marriage and Marianne’s romantic love. As Marianne get well from her illness, she realizes how the relationship with Willoughby could damage the reputation of her whole family, “…… What is a situation like mine, but a most shamefully unguarded affection could expose me to” continued with “I am not wishing him too much good…” By addressing Willoughby in a more proper and prudent way, the tone without emphasizing
Award winning writer, George Orwell, in his dystopian novel, 1984, Winston and O’Brien debate the nature of reality. Winston and O’Brien’s purpose is to persuade each other to believe their own beliefs of truth and reality. They adopt an aggressive tone in order to convey their beliefs about what is real is true. In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston and O’Brien use a variety of different rhetorical strategies and appeals such as parallel structure, pathos, and logos in order to persuade each other about the validity of memories and doublethink; however, each character’s argument contains flaw in logic. Winston debates with O’Brien that truth and reality are individual and connected to our memories.
Because Holden is obsessed with ducks so much, he doesn’t realize that he has the same situation with the ducks himself. It shows that whenever Holden leaves anywhere such as Pencey, the ducks also randomly disappeared making a strong connection between them both but he does not understand where they go. The ducks in some way symbolized the changing happening to Holden but he is afraid to change and does not want to become an adult because he thinks that most adults are
