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What Does Holden Symbolize In Catcher In The Rye

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The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger - Book Cover Ducks: Holden asks what happens to the ducks who are normally on a pond in Central Park, when winter comes and the water freezes. Holden asks, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?” (pg 60) This could reflect Holden’s fear about where he, himself, is going in life, and whether he should leave or adapt to his surroundings. Fish: One response that Holden receives to his questions is that "The fish don't go no place. They stay right where they are, the fish. Right in the goddam lake." (pg 45) Unlike the ducks who are able to leave their troubles behind, the fish cannot escape the freezing lake. The taxi driver later continues to say "They live right in the goddam ice. It's their nature, for Chrissake. They get frozen right in one position for the whole winter." (pg 45) The frozen fish could symbolise the state that Holden is in. He is frozen in childhood and cannot move in this particular season of his …show more content…

“He had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat.” (pg 21) Holden idolises his brother and admires how unique his brother was. Holden rarely shows the mitt to anyone. Presenting his inability to trust people. Suitcase: Suitcases often mean that a person is going on a journey. Throughout the novel Holden is on both a physical and emotional journey. Holden in on a physical journey through new york city but is also on a journey to self discovery. The suitcase is open which implies that a person is not prepared to leave or move. In Holden’s case, he is not ready to move on of from childhood or the death of his brother Allie. NO smoking sticker vs

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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

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Or if they just flew away” (Salinger 13) . Holden’s concern over the ducks is symbolic of his own situation. He, like the ducks, wants to know where to go; where to be lead. Holden feels lost in not only the world, but within himself as well. A few chapters later, Holden asks cab driver’s opinion about the ducks, but the cab driver gets annoyed with Holden and even asks, “How the [heck] would I know where the [darn] ducks go” (Salinger 60).

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2.Holden symbolism of him and the fish/ducks shows his impatience. Holden’s conversation begins when he asks the taxi driver about ducks and the fish. "If you was a fish, Mother Nature 'd take care of you , wouldn 't Right? You don 't think them fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?"(Salinger 82)Holden, who becomes anxious about everything in his life and seeks to avoid difficulty, is like a duck, who takes off when the going gets rough.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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

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This scene is exceptionally important, as it sets the entire tone for how Holden perceives adults and their attitude towards death, as something insignificant that doesn’t deserve closer inspection. Holden feels that death is being cheapened by who he deems to be the “phonies”. Another allusion to death is Holden’s frequent thoughts about the ducks in central park. He wants to know what happens to them during winter, asking the cab drivers in chapters 9 and 12. When Holden locates the lagoon and realizes that the ducks aren’t there, he starts thinking about suicide.

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