Holden Caulfield Symbolism Essay
J.D Salinger has a written a novel called catcher in the rye, about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who lives in New York City. Holden is not an ordinary teenage boy. His way of viewing life is different its extraordinary Holden is confused, lost, and depressed. His character is very complex to understand through the book Holden tries to reach out to a lot of people and he tries to build a relation but something is not letting Holden to do so, the fact that Holden wants to remain a child is keeping him away from growing up and becoming more understandable to himself and the people around him. He has no stable relation with his parents which has affected him to do poorly academically. Through the book J.D Salinger have used symbolism that shows Holden’s mental anguish. The symbolism explains everything that’s is going on with Holden
Holden was very close to his brother Allie who died, the red hair symbol reminds Holden of his brother. For example when Holden is talking about phoebe his little sister “you never saw a little kid so pretty in your whole life. She’s really smart. I mean she had all A’s ever since she started school. As a matter of fact I’m the only dumb one …show more content…
in the family. My brother D.B‘s writer and all and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. She has this sort of red hair, a little bit like Allie’s was.” (p.87-90) the red hair reminds Holden of his brother, somehow his brother’s dead has affected Holden. He sees all these goods in his sister that he used to see in Allie, it shows how it has affected him when Holden says “the one that dies.” Holden is disturbed by this when he wants to ignore it he says “the one that I told you about.” This show that Allie’s not being present makes Holden weak and sad.
It makes Holden depressed to accept the fact that he has grown up now and things are not the same like it used to be in his childhood. The frozen lake and the ducks horrifies Holden of change in life for example when Holden asks the taxi driver about the ducks “well, you know the ducks that swim around the lagoon? In the springtime and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?’’ this shows how Holden thinks of life as a cycle that if you once go you be back soon, which is not true about life, but he hopes to understand why or where they go, he too can discover how to keep change from being permanent.
Holden needs a father figure to help him find his way, Holden doesn’t like his father he is busy man he don’t have time or don’t spend much time with his son. Holden goes to his teacher Mr.Antolini, Holden needs some times to spend with someone who understand his situation but something else happens while Holden it sleeping in Mr.Antolini’s apartment “when something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bustard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it.” This shows the truth abut Holden illness Holden has been abused maybe by his own father or in school because the fact that he don’t likes his father might be because of this. Holden being abused has affected him mentally and that has caused him to become view life so different. He don’t likes people, New York and lawyers.
Holden feel like that he is the one that need to protect the kids from becoming like him.
He wants to protect his sister phoebe as he says what he like to be to phoebe “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big filed of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobody’s around nobody big, I mean except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them I’d just be catcher in the rye and all.” This show that Holden doesn’t want the kids to fall of the cliff. The rye is life and falling off the cliff can mean dead. He doesn’t want all the kids to become like Allie he wants to help them. And he doesn’t realize that it’s okay, to fall that’s how life
is.
Holden has experienced very distributive accidents in his life, that’s why when phoebe his sister asks him if he likes anything in life Holden can’t think of anything but the things that he has experienced for example he is thinking of his classmate in his school Elkton hills “James castle that wouldn’t take back something he said about this very conceited boy, Phil stabile. So stable, with about six other dirty bastards, went down to James castle’s room and went in and locked the goddam door and tried to make him take back what he said, but he wouldn’t do it. So they started in on him. I won’t tell you what they did to him—it’s too repulsive—but he still wouldn’t take it back, finally, what he did, instead of taking back what he said he jumped out the window. I was in the shower, and even I could hear him land outside. He was dead” (p.222-225) Holden’s School was not very protective for boys there, it shows how boys were being harassed by other boys there. Probably Holden has been in the same situation like James. And the fact that he can’t think of anything else but what happened to his classmate and what Holden has experienced makes him hate everything in life, and he says to his sister he likes Allie his dead brother shows that this all has effected Holden. Harassment, suicide and dead.
The fall of the kids makes connection between life and dead in Holden’s life for example when Holden says “there were only five or six other kids on the ride, when the carrousel started, all the kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t’ say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” (P.271-275) the symbol god ring means holding life, and this shows that finally Holden is saying it’s okay if they fall off because that’s how life is, we can’t always protect kids from not falling or getting hurt. It’s okay if old phoebe fall off it’s the way life is and Holden can’t always be there to help. And things that happen to him was meant to happen and it’s time to move on and accept the fact that in life everyone falls.
Holden is very emotional about a lot of things one of the things are the carrousels that reminds him of his childhood the innocence of being a child for example when he says “that’s one nice thing about carrousels, they always play the same songs” (p.271-275) the same song significant the childhood that reminds Holden of his old life as a kid, they fun moments in his life as a kid. Holden realizes he can’t no longer be a kid again but he can always remember the sweetness of his childhood.
The rain in the end of the book symbolizes sadness, tears, and depression for example when Holden says “boy, it rain like a bastard, I swear to God. I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, I felt so dam happy all of sudden, I felt so dam happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just she looked so dam nice.”(P.271-275) the rain in Holden’s life means that he is relax now all the sadness the things that bother him is gone now. Holden is changed, his life is a fresh start from now on. The tears everything that bother him from inside he took them all out the rain explain that. Holden is happy for the first time he is ready for change not for anyone else but for phoebe seeing her makes him feel happy and he wants to see that pretty face all his life, Holden lost Allie he don’t want to lose phoebe as well.
In conclusion Holden is not just a wealthy boy who is flunking school just because his parents have so much money that he shouldn’t bother paying attention in education. But Holden is disturb by the tension in his brain the misunderstanding of life that keeps back from being like other boys, the terrifying feeling he have because of growing up makes Holden look weird but in real he has experienced the worst and that’s bothering him. At the end he gets over it and he finally gets ready for that change. Through the book symbolism is used to show hoydens condition, all the symbolism used on this essay shows and explains Holden condition and the change in Holden and his life.
Holden was very close to his brother Allie who died, the red hair symbol reminds Holden of his brother. For example when Holden is talking about phoebe his little sister “you never saw a little kid so pretty in your whole life. She’s really smart. I mean she had all A’s ever since she started school. As a matter of fact I’m the only dumb one …show more content…
in the family. My brother D.B‘s writer and all and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. She has this sort of red hair, a little bit like Allie’s was.” (p.87-90) the red hair reminds Holden of his brother, somehow his brother’s dead has affected Holden. He sees all these goods in his sister that he used to see in Allie, it shows how it has affected him when Holden says “the one that dies.” Holden is disturbed by this when he wants to ignore it he says “the one that I told you about.” This show that Allie’s not being present makes Holden weak and sad.
It makes Holden depressed to accept the fact that he has grown up now and things are not the same like it used to be in his childhood. The frozen lake and the ducks horrifies Holden of change in life for example when Holden asks the taxi driver about the ducks “well, you know the ducks that swim around the lagoon? In the springtime and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?’’ this shows how Holden thinks of life as a cycle that if you once go you be back soon, which is not true about life, but he hopes to understand why or where they go, he too can discover how to keep change from being permanent.
Holden needs a father figure to help him find his way, Holden doesn’t like his father he is busy man he don’t have time or don’t spend much time with his son. Holden goes to his teacher Mr.Antolini, Holden needs some times to spend with someone who understand his situation but something else happens while Holden it sleeping in Mr.Antolini’s apartment “when something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bustard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it.” This shows the truth abut Holden illness Holden has been abused maybe by his own father or in school because the fact that he don’t likes his father might be because of this. Holden being abused has affected him mentally and that has caused him to become view life so different. He don’t likes people, New York and lawyers.
Holden feel like that he is the one that need to protect the kids from becoming like him.
He wants to protect his sister phoebe as he says what he like to be to phoebe “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big filed of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobody’s around nobody big, I mean except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them I’d just be catcher in the rye and all.” This show that Holden doesn’t want the kids to fall of the cliff. The rye is life and falling off the cliff can mean dead. He doesn’t want all the kids to become like Allie he wants to help them. And he doesn’t realize that it’s okay, to fall that’s how life
is.
Holden has experienced very distributive accidents in his life, that’s why when phoebe his sister asks him if he likes anything in life Holden can’t think of anything but the things that he has experienced for example he is thinking of his classmate in his school Elkton hills “James castle that wouldn’t take back something he said about this very conceited boy, Phil stabile. So stable, with about six other dirty bastards, went down to James castle’s room and went in and locked the goddam door and tried to make him take back what he said, but he wouldn’t do it. So they started in on him. I won’t tell you what they did to him—it’s too repulsive—but he still wouldn’t take it back, finally, what he did, instead of taking back what he said he jumped out the window. I was in the shower, and even I could hear him land outside. He was dead” (p.222-225) Holden’s School was not very protective for boys there, it shows how boys were being harassed by other boys there. Probably Holden has been in the same situation like James. And the fact that he can’t think of anything else but what happened to his classmate and what Holden has experienced makes him hate everything in life, and he says to his sister he likes Allie his dead brother shows that this all has effected Holden. Harassment, suicide and dead.
The fall of the kids makes connection between life and dead in Holden’s life for example when Holden says “there were only five or six other kids on the ride, when the carrousel started, all the kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t’ say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” (P.271-275) the symbol god ring means holding life, and this shows that finally Holden is saying it’s okay if they fall off because that’s how life is, we can’t always protect kids from not falling or getting hurt. It’s okay if old phoebe fall off it’s the way life is and Holden can’t always be there to help. And things that happen to him was meant to happen and it’s time to move on and accept the fact that in life everyone falls.
Holden is very emotional about a lot of things one of the things are the carrousels that reminds him of his childhood the innocence of being a child for example when he says “that’s one nice thing about carrousels, they always play the same songs” (p.271-275) the same song significant the childhood that reminds Holden of his old life as a kid, they fun moments in his life as a kid. Holden realizes he can’t no longer be a kid again but he can always remember the sweetness of his childhood.
The rain in the end of the book symbolizes sadness, tears, and depression for example when Holden says “boy, it rain like a bastard, I swear to God. I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, I felt so dam happy all of sudden, I felt so dam happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just she looked so dam nice.”(P.271-275) the rain in Holden’s life means that he is relax now all the sadness the things that bother him is gone now. Holden is changed, his life is a fresh start from now on. The tears everything that bother him from inside he took them all out the rain explain that. Holden is happy for the first time he is ready for change not for anyone else but for phoebe seeing her makes him feel happy and he wants to see that pretty face all his life, Holden lost Allie he don’t want to lose phoebe as well.
In conclusion Holden is not just a wealthy boy who is flunking school just because his parents have so much money that he shouldn’t bother paying attention in education. But Holden is disturb by the tension in his brain the misunderstanding of life that keeps back from being like other boys, the terrifying feeling he have because of growing up makes Holden look weird but in real he has experienced the worst and that’s bothering him. At the end he gets over it and he finally gets ready for that change. Through the book symbolism is used to show hoydens condition, all the symbolism used on this essay shows and explains Holden condition and the change in Holden and his life.