ipl-logo

Holden Caulfield In Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger

923 Words4 Pages

“I think one of the defining moments of adulthood is the realization that nobody 's going to take care of you. That you have to do the heavy lifting while you 're here. And when you don 't, well, you suffer the consequences.” Adam Savage. When times are tough you should not give up. And you always are not going to have someone to pick you up when you need help. You also are not going to have someone telling you where and what to do with your life. Holden Caulfield has trouble with the transfer from childhood into adulthood. He needs to ask people what he should do and where he should go because he does not know what he needs to go to make that leap. Holden uses the ducks in the lake as a metaphor as himself and where he should go. In Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger uses ducks in order to show growing up is a confusing time for adolescents.
Holden is having a tough time coming up with a plan for his future. When Holden is in the taxi cab and is asking the driver about where the Central park ducks go in the winter time. “By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” (Salinger 60). Holden is confused about growing up and is not sure if he is ready yet. He asked the driver “do …show more content…

Salinger uses ducks as a metaphor in order to show that growing up is a hard time for children. Holden is confused about life. He needs to grow and make the leap into adulthood, but he does not know how and needs to ask other people what to do. He asked them about where he should do metaphorically and needs to figure out what he does with his life. Adam Savage talks about how children need to be more self-sufficient and not relay on people. Holden relies on other people to tell him what he should do with his life and where he should go. Holden shows that teenagers and adolescents are confused about growing up and he ultimately shows how difficult it is for children who don’t have anyone to go to, to

Show More
Related
652 Words | 3 Pages

While most people would relish contently in their childhood memories, Holden becomes agitated when he enters Central Park, searching restlessly for the duck pond. After stumbling blindly through the increasingly “darker and darker and spookier and spookier” (170) park, Holden finds the pond “partly frozen and partly not frozen.” (171). The significance of the park’s aura of eeriness and the half frozen pond in relation to Holden’s mood is that the increasingly darkening park can be seen as Holden’s darkening thoughts of death and drawn out speculation about what would happen if he caught pneumonia and died; it also connects to a larger metaphor that the pond represents Holden’s view of the world, the half frozen, half not frozen, state of the pond resembles Holden’s transition from a teenager to an adult, and the ducks are symbolically associate with rebirth and

Read More
606 Words | 3 Pages

Holden thinks about the ducks in Central Park because he wants to be free, he does not want to stay in Pencey and live with phonies. He wants to move out and live on his own, to be independent and free. This allows Holden to change dramatically throughout his adventure. He sees the world more closely than he ever did before, he sees the behaviors of phonies and people who are actually honest. These are the changes Holden makes while traveling into the adult world and it allows him to become a mature teenager.

Read More
862 Words | 4 Pages

In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger uses the ducks in the park to symbolize change. First, Holden says “I mean I could shoot the old Spencer and think about those ducks at the same time.” (7) This shows that Holden’s mind is almost always on the subject of change. This proves that Holden will always have an underlining anxiety about

Read More
942 Words | 4 Pages

Holden represents the typical teenager. He demands his independence and refuses to view himself as anything but invincible. In his mind, he has life figured out and everyone around him is simply stupid. He fails out of multiple schools and cannot manage to find friends because he is looking for his environment to cater to him. He does not want to put in the time or effort required to succeed.

Read More
1695 Words | 7 Pages

When the school is captivated watching the football game at the field, Holden refuses to mix with the rest of the student body and instead chooses to watch it from “...way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill.” When in New York, Holden visits a lagoon in Central Park, which is mostly frozen over. He also ponders whether the ducks will be at the lagoon during winter. Holden “walked around the whole damn lake” (Salinger, 200) and to his detriment, “…didn’t see a single duck.” (Salinger, 200).

Read More
787 Words | 4 Pages

In the story, Holden is going through tough times, amplified by his decision to go to New York City alone. While many symbolic presences recur in the story, Holden's fascination with animals transcends any existing symbols. Holdens contemplation of where ducks go during migration highlights the uncertainty of his future that

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Kimel hopes against hope that in the future the people will fight against each other. Regardless of the symbols divergent to our opinion regarding the nation we should have hope and belief of a better world or future will dawn. With this positive note we are sure that all the mishaps and hazards faced by the victims so far will vanish and evaporate with expectation of independence in the near future: When it will be, I do not know, but Despite all the signs to the contrary.

Read More
1077 Words | 5 Pages

I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over"( ). This is symbolism for Holden, the ducks representing his desperate attempt to cling to childhood. He, just like Craig struggles with this depression that he can't let go. This idea of fear can be related to

Read More
464 Words | 2 Pages

The ducks in Central Park are first mentioned when Holden visits Mr. Spencer. As Mr. Spencer is discussing Holden’s failing grades, Holden thinks to himself, “The funny thing is, though, I was so sort of thinking of something else while I shot the bull… I was wondering if some guy came in a truck and took [the ducks] away to a zoo or something or if they just flew

Read More
1851 Words | 8 Pages

Many people harbour a desire to accomplish something specific in life. Sometimes this desire stems from the background of a person, and sometimes desires are developed over time and with age. “The Catcher in the Rye” narrated by Holden Caulfield, who is an overly disturbed teenager, is about the change from childhood to adulthood. Holden, like many, has a burning desire to protect the innocence of children; this desire is tied to the themes of relationships, intimacy and sexuality which are carried throughout the novel. In a stroke of genius, the author, J.D. Salinger, sums up this desire in the title, which is taken from a poem by Robert Burns: Comin ' thro ' the Rye ( 1796).

Read More
859 Words | 4 Pages

In the Catcher in the Rye, Salinger depicts the immature mentality of typical teenagers through Holden’s childish curiosity. Teens experience

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

What are some solutions that he comes up with while thinking? Where the ducks go in winter, Whether the ducks have a permanent home Whether the ducks return to the park. Holden wonders if the ducks actually live like other beings and care for each other like some humans do. 3. When talking with Mr. Spencer, Holden reflects on a few reasons he hates growing old and old people.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

Holden begins trying to be older than he actually is, still scared to lose innocence he grasps so hard to be a different person. He is a teenage boy in a grown up’s world. Trying to be an adult isn 't as easy as it seems and Holden is starting to learn that. “She had a terrifically nice smile. She really did.

Read More
2081 Words | 9 Pages

In this novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is the narrator that goes through a variety of problems. He has dilemmas, but meets/reconnects with people on his quest of life. This novel is more than just a simple story about a protagonist and his life events. This novel follows the structure of bildungsroman. There are four parts to it- character’s growth in social structure, a form of loss, process of maturity, and if the character ends in a new place of society.

Read More

More about Holden Caulfield In Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger

Related Topics

Open Document