Catcher In The Rye Themes

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There are quite a few themes packed into J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher In The Rye. These are just a few of many themes in the book: loss of innocence, fear of change, isolation, loss of identity, and immunity to change. Today, we will be focusing mainly on the themes listed above. Throughout the whole book, Holden faces odd new situations while attending, and after being kicked out of, Pencey Prep. Some of these situations change Holden, for better or worse. These situations can be explained by the themes listed above. This is done by examining Salinger’s use of the literary elements such as: the unique diction of the characters, Holden’s ever-changing tone, and the overall style the text is written with. Salinger uses many symbols to signify …show more content…
The scene takes place on the last couple of pages. It begins with Holden giving a note to a lady at Phoebe’s (his sister) school. The lady was to give the note to Phoebe. Holden wanted Phoebe to meet him at the museum of art. Holden delivers the note, and heads off to the museum. He helps some kids on a field trip find where the mummies are. Phoebe finally arrives after a while. Holden finds out she was supposed to be in a play and wasn’t being in it so she could go away with Holden. Holden is upset by this and scolds her, causing her to cry. Skipping to the part that we’ll be examining, Holden and Phoebe are at the zoo. Phoebe sees a carousel and wants to ride it, but Holden feels nervous. He lets her go on anyways, and she buys a ticket. As she’s riding, Holden sees that “All the kids [are] trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and [Holden] was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but [Holden] didn’t say or do anything”(96). Holden is scared here that Phoebe might “fall off the horse”. This has a bit more meaning to it, if you’ve read the whole book. A huge motif throughout the novel is this idea of falling off a cliff and losing innocence. Holden is afraid Phoebe might lose her innocence by falling off a plastic horse on a merry-go-round. It sounds funny at first, but it makes more sense when you look at it symbolically. Anyways, back on track here. Phoebe wants to ride the carousel again. Holden complies and gives her more money. Phoebe gives Holden a kiss. She then remarks that it’s starting to rain a bit. Holden notices this, and she goes off to the ride. “it began to rain like a bastard. In buckets…”(97). This heavy rain is much different than the frozen snow that we see in the beginning of the book, and even more different that the frozen lake that we see in the book as well. Holden sits through the rain
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