Holden Caulfield Symbolism

Innocence is a key part of a child’s life as the child has not yet experienced the cruelty, violence and immorality of the adult world. In the text The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, as a result of Holden’s fear of the adult world, this leads to his desire to protect innocence, ultimately leading to his mental breakdown. The novel shows a teenage boy’s desire to protect innocence which leads to his mental instability in attempting to deal with a world that clashes with his ideals. He only finds interest in children's innocence because they have yet not entered the phony adult world. The museum of natural history, which is unchanging, shows Holden’s desire to protect and preserve the innocence of children. Holden attempts to erase profanities

“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole.” (cite3). This quote represents Holden’s innocence as he enjoys the little things in life. He reflects on no matter what else he is going through in life, the small things in life stayed the same. “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. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway.” (cite4). Holden wishes certain events in his life wouldn’t happen. He also hopes he could keep the good memories the same. This shows how his innocence is constantly changing throughout the story.

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.

The patient Holden Caulfield, shows signs of defense mechanism to cope with unwanted thoughts or impulses in the conscious mind. The primary defense mechanism that Holden exhibits is regression. Holden exhibits regression when he wears the red hunting hat in stressful situations. The hat is a symbol where he's able to attach to his childhood and feel protected. This defense mechanism is illustrated when says, "I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, 'Sleep tight, ya morons!'"

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a sixteen year old boy, Holden Caulfield, who tells the story of his experience of exploring New York after being expelled from his high school, Pencey Prep. Throughout his travels, Holden seeks to find truth and a sense of belonging in the “phony” realm of adulthood: the stage of life that he is entering but is not yet willing to accept. Over the course of the novel, Holden often ridicules the adult world, idolizing the idea of childhood instead, as well as the purity and innocence it contains. His strong feelings of alienation constantly incite feelings of wanting to run away from, or escape the situations that he is put in. Furthermore, Holden feels as if he needs to protect children from transitioning

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield suffers from depression due to the death of his younger brother, Allie. Allie’s premature passing elicits Holden’s cynical views of the world and the “phonies” around him.  Holden isolates himself from those around him in order to shy away from the complexities of life. Salinger uses a hat, a museum, and a merry-go-round to illuminate Holden’s inner turmoil with people, the notion of adulthood, and growing up. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and the studies of Ego, Superego, and Id are used to show the significance of Holden’s behavior in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

The novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is one of the most frequently challenged pieces of literature of the twenty-first century. Salinger’s novel contained vulgar language, violence, and sexual implication resulting in a ban from public schools’ reading lists. However, teens still read Salinger’s story of a relatable, alienated, American teenager. The events Salinger describes in The Catcher in the Rye occur in the 1950’s. The author narrates the story through an unconventional New York teen named Holden Caulfield. Over the course of the novel, Caulfield describes various impulsive and self-destructive decisions he has made while experiencing symptoms of unexplained depression and emotional distress. J.D. Salinger uses multiple symbols throughout the text prompting the reader to see beyond the text when evaluating Caulfield’s experiences. In chapter twenty-five Salinger uses the golden ring and the carousel as a symbol of Holden’s most intimidating internal conflict: transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

Symbolizes how he wants to be; Holden wants to live in a place where everything is simple and unchanging. The Museum of

The art of symbolism is one used by many authors to represent abstract ideas or qualities present in a novel. Salinger uses symbolism to build the character of Holden Caulfield while allowing readers to make connections and understand the depth of his ideas further than merely at a face value. The title of this book, The Catcher in the Rye, comes from a line of a poem by Robert Burns that deals the justification of casual sex which is ironic as Holden sees it as a reference to the protection of innocence. By analyzing the symbolism present in the title, we see the emphasis Holden places on preserving the purity of children so they never need to encounter the phoniness of the adult world and experience the difficult transition between adolescence

A site that is often brought up in the book is the Natural History Museum. Nothing would change, something Holden reflects in his wish to preserve childhood. After leading the kids to the mummification exhibit, he finds profanity marked on the wall. He is displeased and says, “It was written with a red crayon or something, right under the glass part of the wall, under the stones. That’s the whole trouble.

The Catcher in the Rye, a 1951 novel by J.D. Salinger, follows a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who spends 48 sleep deprived hours traipsing through New York. This novel questions the societal system in which we live, and often speaks on the complex transition from childhood into the adult world. Many of the people and objects symbolize Holden’s perception of innocence and the fragility of happiness. J.D. Salinger uses powerful symbolism to express the thematic idea that the loss of innocence is an inevitable rite of passage for all of humanity.

To begin with, in J.D Salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye, Holden portrays as a character that

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, is a classic novel of the Postmodern Literary era. The story’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is a teenage boy who has many problems, especially fear of change and growing up. The author uses symbolism to convey Holden’s thoughts and feelings and to describe his personality. In addition to Holden’s depression, the reader learns about his feelings through his behavior and by his thoughts. The four symbols that display Holden’s feelings are: Holden’s Red Hunting Hat, the Museum of Natural History and the Carousel, and his desire to be a catcher in the rye.

Jerome David Salinger, better known as J.D. Salinger, is a renowned 20th century American author. Jerome David Salinger is known for his young adult novels based on the protection of innocence with the main character acting as a higher power. This theme is reflected through all of J. D. Salinger’s works including, but not limited to, The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, Nine Short Stories, A Perfect Day for Banana Fish. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye and Seymour Glass in Franny and Zooey as well as many others in Salinger’s novels take on the roles of saviors acting as a higher power to protect the innocent around them.

The Catcher in the Rye is often regarded as “a rite of passage for American adolescents” (Pruchnic 49), in which Holden Caulfield grows up from a “romantically cynical, cynically romantic teenager” (Steed 2) who clings to his elapsed childhood with “extreme emotions [and] bizarre reactions” (Privitera 203) to an adult who turns from the past, moves into the present and looks toward the future. This paper seeks to analyze Holden’s maturing path by examining three dominant images in the novel, i.e. cap, carrousel and catcher.