The Golden Ring In Catcher In The Rye

As previously stated, I have no major discipline problems. At home, I am, I believe a good kid. I help my mom take care of my little sisters, I cook and I support my sisters on their homework. The only incident that I have in school is a, “disturbance” I was causing, but not everyone is

The carousel and gold ring finally allow Holden to accept change as a natural part of life and that it is necessary for one to grow as a person. Holden buys a ticket for Phoebe, his kid sister, to ride the carousel but refuses her offer to go on as well. Instead, he sits and watches: “ I went over and sat down on this bench and she went and got on the carousel” (211). By doing this, Holden chooses to no longer be a child. He starts to accept that he needs to start maturing and watches Pheobe, like the other adults are watching their children. This is a step in the right direction for Holden as up until this point in the novel, he has refused to change because of his fear. While Holden watches Phoebe ride the carousel, he watches her reach for the gold ring. As she reaches, Holden thinks to

Holden been to the carousel in Manhattan to take his little sister Phoebe to ride it. It reminded Holden about him being a kid again. Holden suddenly started to feel happy that he almost cried. In page 210, it said,”Anyway, we keep getting closer and closer to the carousel and you can start to hear that nutty it always play. It was playing,” Oh Marie!”. It played the same song about fifty years ago when I was a little kid. That’s one nice thing about carousels, they always play the same song.” This whole quote is illustrating how it when he take Phoebe to ride the carousel, it reminded him of his childhood. He said things like how they’ve been playing the same music for fifty years when he was a kid. He took Phoebe mainly cause he probably

When Phoebe decides to ride the carousel, Holden really starts to comprehend that he has to let kids make decisions for themselves, to lean, and grow, and make mistakes. Phoebe who is practically walking, living, breathing innocence, may need to grab onto the ring, it symbolizes maturity. The carousel in Catcher in the Rye symbolizes and or represents that life goes round and round, again and again in a continuous circle until the ride ends. Holden now understands that he needs to let Phoebe grow up and mature. This is something that all parents go through with their children, having to let go even though they may make mistakes.

Holden goes to the Carousel to take his little sister Phoebe for a ride. When Phoebe was riding on the Carousel, he realize that he had to let Phoebe experience his failure when she tries to get the golden ring for a free ride. The Carousel reminded him how he used to ride on the Carousel as a kid. The same music they’ve been playing fifty years ago. On page 210, it said,”Anyway, we kept getting closer and closer to the carousel and you could start that nutty music it always plays. It plays “Oh Muriel!” It played the same song about fifty years ago when I was a little kid. That’s one nice thing about Carousel, they always play the same song.” This explains Holden’s childhood of how he heard “Oh Muriel” when he was just a little boy. As you

Parent’s goals are to their children become successful learners so that children can do extremely well as an adult. Regardless if parents receive their high school diploma, parents still talk to their children about the importance of education (Thao, 2009).

For a lot of people gold means wealthy, In The glass Castle gold are used as hope and happiness and something to look forward to in the near future. The family held onto the thought that gold could give them something to be looking forward to whether it's the wedding ring or the glass castle it was valuable to them. "That was why we had to find gold. To get mom a new wedding ring. That and so we could build the Glass Castle" (Wells28). This example proves that gold symbolizes the one thing superior to look forward to during the difficult times. In conclusion, I feel like gold has a very strong importance to the Glass castle and the family.

However, as the novel nears the end, Holden experiences his pivotal moment and takes on a different perspective of life. Rather than just going through with his plan of isolating himself from the superficial society, Holden decides to stay and face it, with its adulthood and phoniness. Seeing Phoebe attempt to grab the gold ring along with other kids, Holden thinks to himself, “I was... afraid she’d fall off... but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it... If they fall off, they fall off” (211). Holden reaches the conclusion that he can’t be a catcher. He can only watch the children and in no way can he avert them from committing their own wrongdoings; he is not able to save them from shedding their innocence as they grow older and they will eventually. Releasing himself from the task, “[Holden] felt so damn happy” (213). A burden has lifted as he liberates himself from such a responsibility. He doesn’t have to carry the weight of executing the responsibility he shackled himself with, one that greatly affected him mentally. He knows that he does not have to keep up this pretense anymore.

Salinger uses this gold ring as a metaphor for adulthood. Holden remarks that “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 off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them,” (Salinger 274). Even if Holden doesn’t know it, he is admitting that parents have to let their children grow up at their own pace, and reach for the gold ring when they chose to, because you cannot stop children from doing so and it is bound to happen sometime. Earlier in the novel, Holden speaks of having “to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff… [and that he has] to come out from somewhere and catch them” (Salinger 225). Initially, Holden thinks that he has to prevent the children from falling into adulthood in order to maintain their innocence, but now Holden realizes that parents have to let their children fall. It is better for parents to let their children reach for the gold ring and risk falling than to constantly catch them, because every child will fall one way or

Holden is realising that he is entering adulthood and would rather watch Phoebe enjoy the carousel rather than himself. Holden is starting to accept the fact that children grow up. He is watching the kids on the carousel as they are trying to reach for the gold ring: “I was sort of afraid [Phoebe would] fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off” (211).

My parents’ ultimate goal was for my siblings and me to graduate from high school. Noemi, Jesus, and Erwin, my older siblings, never told me about the do’s and don’ts of school. Their lack of guidance frustrated me. I always thought that older siblings wanted the best for the youngest. Whenever I asked them something though, like how to spell a word, their response was, “Are you stupid? How don't you know how to spell that?” After getting shut down multiple times, I stopped asking for help.

The gold ring represents hope, dreams, and chances in life and Holden recognizes that kids will grab for the gold ring and they should be let

After Phoebe asks what he wants to be when he grows up, Holden goes into detail and illustrates, “… I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all”(Steinbeck 191). Holden values a child’s security in the highest regards and is willing to save one from hitting the bottom of a cliff. As the bottom of the cliff represents the unpleasant and demanding world of adulthood, Holden is finally separating himself from childhood and accepting that he is an adult. After Holden encourages Phoebe to enjoy the carousel, he observes, “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them…”(Steinbeck 232). Holden is overprotective over his younger sister Phoebe, except when she is on the carousel and he learns that she can develop her own independence. Noting that children also have risks and decisions they have to make themselves without adult interaction, like reaching for a gold ring but knowing the risk of falling. Holden can finally completely separate his adult self and his child self, and only look back with nostalgia. Earlier, Holden regards himself as “the catcher”, the savior who protects children from frightening reality of adulthood, but after seeing a lot of maturity in Phoebe he encourages her to reach for “the gold ring”, without any need for safety and

Education is very important to my parents and it is not just a means of obtaining a good job in the future, but it serves as a way to get respect and social standing in a world that is so heavily focused on societal and class statuses. Being the first generation to have gone onto higher education, the pressures, put on by my family, can sometimes be overwhelming. In fact, at times I think my parents are more excited and ready for me to graduate than I am, which can be quite comical.

When I was a little girl my friends and I always talked about what we were going to be when we grew up. Some said a teacher; others said a nurse, secretary, and even a mom. I knew what I was going to be, but what we don't think about is how we get to be these things. We float through elementary school, having small children fun. Next we go to middle school trying to find our ways in the world, some of us worries about grades, and some don't. Not many thinking ahead of high school, let alone college. In high school we soon realize that grades are very important and better grades give you a better chance at better colleges. So those of us who want to go to college start cramping down on our studies so we can get those desirable grades. I may have not been the perfect student throughout high school. My Study habits could have been better, but one thing I do know is that I want to do more with my life than just a high school diploma.