“Adolescence is society’s permission slip for combining physical maturity with psychological irresponsibility.” (Terri Apter) In the fictional novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is making a journey through adolescence. Throughout this book, Holden is making a trip from immaturity to maturity and finding his way through adolescence. In the story, Salinger uses symbolism to show how Holden changes in the story. 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 …show more content…
One quote that demonstrates this is “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was left-handed. The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere”(21) This quote shoes that Allie was a much more in-depth person than Holden. Holden recognizes this and because it seems as though he idolizes this property in his brother, he aspires to be more like his brother. “She was the first one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie’s baseball mitt to with all the poems written on it.”(42) is another quote that Salinger uses to demonstrate Allie’s glove as being Holden’s feelings. Salinger makes it so that Holden only shows the mitt to people he is opening up to. His brother’s baseball mitt is a representation of his relationship(s) with other people. Salinger also demonstrates Holden’s feelings as his brother’s glove when Holden says “He made Allie go get his baseball mitt and then he asked him who was the best war poet, Rupert Brooke or Emily Dickinson. Allie said Emily Dickinson.”(75) Holden thinks of the glove as one of his only ties to his brother. Holden’s memories of his brother can only be brought up when he can successfully integrate his brother’s glove into the conversation. Salinger uses Allie’s glove to represent Holden’s trust and personal feelings in the …show more content…
Salinger does this by having Holden say “Sometimes I horse around quite a lot, just to keep from getting bored. What I did was, I pulled it way down over my eyes, that way I couldn’t see a goddamn thing.”(12) This Shows that he waits to act immature until he’s physically wearing his hunting hat. Holden uses the hat to further his second (and more immature) personality. Salinger shows Holden’s immaturity when Holden says “I pulled my red hunting hat on, and turned the beak around to the back, the way I like it, and then yelled at the top of my goddamn voice, ‘sleep tight ya morons’”(29) When Holden is feeling upset and he puts on the hunting hat, it gives him the ability to be confident enough to act immaturely. Holden automatically puts up a “wall” of immaturity rather than deal with being uncomfortable or unhappy in a situation. When Holden says “I pulled the peak of my hunting hat around to the front all of a sudden, for a change. I was getting sort of nervous, all of a sudden. I’m quite a nervous guy.”(19), its another example of how Salinger uses his hat as a symbol. Holden’s different way of wearing his hat is related to how mature and more open with his emotions he is being. When Holden changes the way of which the peak of his hat is facing to the “more mature” way of wearing it, he becomes more open with his emotions. Holden’s
A baseball mitt from your dead brother isn 't something that you would usually carry around with you. It makes him feel better inside. As well, Holden’s red hunting hat is a representation of him and his qualities. The hat is its own and unlike everyone else. It symbolizes that holden is out of place, and that he is his own person.
Holden gets kicked of his school, Pencey, and goes to talk to his English teacher, Mr. Spencer. When he gets back to his dorm room after discussing that, he “put on this hat that…[he’d] bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks” (21). After Holden and Mr. Spencer have the conversation about leaving Pencey and going through his school career and beyond, he puts on his hat. Because he is about to leave Pencey, a big change in his life, Holden puts on his hat as a sense of familiarity and is comforted in this moment by this motif.
Based on his judgement, Caulfield doesn’t judge something based on how it looks, or how he wants to be like everyone else. He wants to be unique and different. Caulfield also made a statement on how he said, “I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on-I didn’t give a damn on how I looked” (88). Holden shows that he does not care if he looks like a moron or a strange person, he wants to be the one and only Holden Caulfield in the entire universe. This phrase gave evidence that Caulfield’s red hunting hat represents his individuality.
Because the loss of innocence reveals society’s realities, recognizing innocence is to value ignorance. Holden is afraid that if he loses his innocence, he wouldn’t be any different from all the “phony” adults in the world. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Salinger shows the thematic idea of how the desire to protect innocence can result from one’s own loss of innocence. Holden uses his red hunting hat as a protective shield around him, the idea of having sexual intercourse with a prostitute, and the graffiti written on the walls of the elementary school. Starting off, Holden has a very strong bond with his red hunting hat because he finds the hat as a sense of comfort and innocence.
While in New York City, Holden purchases a red hunting hat, implied to be highly unattractive. Yet, the hat appeals to him so much that when he first saw it he “…lost all the goddam foils” (Salinger p.17). Although he loves his hat, he is ashamed of wearing his hat in front of his friends and family as he believes he will look like a fool. Holden is a unique, however he lacks the confidence to express himself, as demonstrated by Holden’s statement, “I took my old hunting hat out of my pocket while I walked, and put it on. I knew I wouldn’t meet anybody that knew me…” (122).
This baseball glove is probably the only thing Holden has left to keep him even trying to succeed in life, because at the rate he is going, Holden doesn’t have a very good attitude about life. Salinger starts with Mr. Spencer as the first character Holden encounters. Mr. Spencer is Holden’s history teacher. ““I flunked
“Adolescence is the conjugator of childhood and adulthood” by Louise J. Kaplan. Holden and Charlie both live in a precarious time of adolescence and need to grab hold of their life in some way. Both are trying to make better sense of the world around them .The existence of adolescence in the catcher in the rye and the perks of being a wallflower are constructed through the examination of innocence, phoniness and isolation. Firstly, the catcher in the rye and the perks of being a wallflower demonstrates Holden’s
Holden tries to prevent the inevitable, but one must move on with their life, and that is, contributed to the loss of innocence. His hat keeps him safe from the societal horrors that steal one's innocence. So when he has finally comes to grips with the fact that he must become older, and make grown up decisions, he gives his hat to Phoebe when, she takes it out of his pocket and offers it to him, since it was raining, but he says “You can wear it awhile” (Salinger 233), he does this because he wants to protect her now and stop running away from his
Salinger does a phenomenal job developing the red hunting hat into a symbol by emphasizing how important it was to Holden throughout the novel. When Holden is leaving the hotel, whilst walking out the door he grabs his coat from the hat check girl. He then proceeds to show her his hat. “I showed her my goddamn hunting hat and she liked it”(169).
In this quote, Holden describes his younger brother Allie 's baseball mitt. The quote is significant to the novel because it provides context on Holden 's past and the reason for his behavior and apathy towards life. In the quote, Holden addresses Allie for the first time while discussing the details of his baseball mitt. Holden describes his brother 's baseball mitt as having "poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere",the quote shows the similarities they once had and their shared passion for reading and literature. Allie 's baseball mitt serves as a symbol of Holden 's love for his brother as well as the sorrow that he has experienced since his passing.
Throughout the story he shows an interest in his sister Phoebe, and other strangers alike. For the duration of reading, the Catcher in the Rye suggests that the texts focuses on Holden’s depression and his unwillingness to let go of the past and that Salinger is concerned with his inability to grow up; however, in many scenes Salinger portrays Holden as a boy who is always out acting older than his age, but still holds on to innocence. Holden’s depression is portrayed throughout the entire story. He becomes unhappy
This object has a huge meaning in Holden’s world. Holden Caulfield feels that his hat is more that a hunting hat, it is more like a “people shooting hat” (22). The red hunting hat is symbolic to Holden and throughout the novel he uses it in different ways, than what a common person would. But to truly understand the significance of the hat, we must look at it as an everyday function and see how J.D Salinger creates the meaning. First of all, Holden uses his hunting hat to cover his hair because it is gray with
His way is to call everyone a phony, he alienates himself. Holden feels like he need a way to shoot people but not with words while putting on his hat. ”I shoot people in this hat.” His hat is a hunting hat. In a way it is pleasant for him, to shoot people because of the amount of people, especially at his former schools, that considers him to be an outsider is a worryingly large amount.
When the hat is pulled to the front, he cannot “see a goddam thing” and says he’s “going blind” (21). The pain from Allie’s death pushes Holden to seclude himself from a world he sees as cold and ominous. More importantly, it prevents him from looking at his own mind and realizing Allie is the reason he is lonely. As if losing own brother wasn’t enough, Holden also loses the presence of his older brother D.B.. The conflict begins when he leaves Holden by moving to Hollywood, and Holden says D.B. will only “maybe” drive him home after his therapy ends (1).
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