Holden Caulfield Symbols

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Saint Augustine once said, “Symbols are powerful because they are visible signs of invisible realities.” Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden's red hunting cap helps symbolize him as a person and what he stands for. Throughout the following days of getting kicked out of a prestigious boarding school, seventeen year old Holden Caulfield explores the city of New York in search of finding his purpose in life. The novel uses symbolism many times, three significant symbols are Holden's dream job of being the Catcher in The Rye, the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon and the Museum of Natural History. The duck's disappearance from the central park lagoon symbolizes Allie disappearing from Holden's life. While he’s riding a cab in New York, Holden asks the driver, “well you know the ducks that swim around in it? …show more content…
He says he doesn't believe in it, but deep down he wants to believe there’s heaven because then he can see Allie again, the person he misses most in life. Later in the book, Holden doesn't go into the Museum of Natural History because he doesn't want to tarnish his old memories of the museum with his depressed mind. Holden walks through the park thinking about all the good memories he has of the museum until he stops at the Museum of Natural History. “All of a sudden” he didn’t want to go inside, “not for a million bucks” because he felt like he wouldn’t enjoy it. Holden doesn’t want to go inside the museum because he doesn't want to ruin his old innocent memories with his depressed teen mind. Holden's depression is getting worse because he keeps seeing things that remind him of his family and dead sibling, which makes him miss them even

Character Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger

Holden Caulfield, a very interesting teenager is not very mature for a sixteen year old boy. Throughout the story, he matured very much. Even though he has matured, he is not ready to go into the real world. After reading the story The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, it is easy to perceive that the sixteen year old, Holden Caulfield, should not be released from the rest home because of the symbols he shows, the actions he performs, and the consequences of letting an immature adolescent unsupervised…

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Essay about Symbolism and Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

AND HOLDEN CAULFIELD By Luka Vukovic Mr. M. Dempsey ENG2DE-04tygh December 18, 2013 The novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” revolves around the protagonist Holden Caulfield as the story is told from his perspective. J.D. Salinger constructed Holden Caulfield as a cynical person who cannot accept to grow up. Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye,” J.D. Salinger uses symbolism to reveal and reinforce critical aspects of the protagonist Holden Caulfield. Three important aspects Holden acquired…

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Essay On Holden Caulfield

There are also people that help with the reader’s greater understanding of Holden such as; his siblings Phoebe and Allie, also characters like Old Spencer. In The Cather in the Rye by S.D. Salinger there are certain symbols and characters that are very important to our understanding of our main character Holden Caulfield. One symbol that stands out very clearly in the novel that helps with the readers understanding of Holden is the Museum of Natural History. Since his childhood visits, the museum has…

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Catcher In The Rye Essay

Hinnant Leiknes 1 January 13, 2013 Holden Caulfield: Smart or Stupid? Many people, after reading The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, may think that Holden Caulfield is not a very bright person. They may be right in thinking that, but the author was trying to show throughout the book that he actually was very intelligent, just maybe not scholarly way. This novel gives investigates the ideas of many different themes to help show what life was like for Holden Caulfield over the period of a few days…

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The Catcher in the Rye Questions Essay

20 July 2013 Catcher in the Rye Interpretive Analysis 1) Why does Holden so passionately despise “phonies”? Is Holden himself a “phony”? Holden Caulfield absolutely hates phonies, but shows signs of being one himself, suggesting he may be a hypocrite. He dislikes phonies because he believes that they are fake and hypocritical; corrupted by the ways of the world. His idea of a phony is someone who lies for money or attention. Holden wants a pure, clean society where no one is corrupted by greed, lust…

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Rain Symbolism In Catcher In The Rye

In Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, an abundance of claims are made revolving around the hidden meanings and reasons behind symbols and words that authors use in their text. With each chapter and new subject Foster introduces, lists of examples are provided, but none of the examples are from the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye is a universally known novel that offers textual evidence that readers can relate to and first hand…

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Catcher In The Rye Controversy

Becky Johnston-Carter. In the story Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger it’s about a teenager named Holden Caulfield who was just kicked out of school and wants to keep his innocence. He tries so many things to get over the fact that he’s growing up and refuses to accept it, eventually he has a fantasy that he wants to make come true which is to be the catcher in the rye. The catcher in the rye is a symbol that explains what he’s going through and what he wants to prevent other kids from going through…

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An Analysis of The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Essay

character Holden Caulfield contains within his character both of these traits. I think that Holden holds a more pessimistic view of life in the beginning of the book where he always assumes the worst of things and doesn’t pertain a positive outlook on life. In the end of the novel, Holden finally achieves the feeling that he is going to go back to school and receive a better education and he is in a mindset where he is thinking positively for the most part about everything. 2. I think Holden is more…

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Holden Caulfield Symbolism Essay

For most children growing up is a painful process but this is especially true for Holden Caulfield. Growing up for Holden was especially difficult because he lost his brother, Allie Caulfield, when Allie was only eleven years old. Holden’s childhood is not seen as anywhere close to ideal due to the emotional trauma of losing a loved one at such a young age, and as he ages into adolescence, the reader can see that he also had trouble academically. He failed out of numerous schools and currently has…

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Holden Caulfield Conflict

the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has to respond to conflict and inside and outside of the novel, he is judged by the decisions he makes. The decisions he enriches the story because it allows the reader to make connections between the events that they read about Holden and real life. Holden is a sixteen year boy from New York City who has to deal with society and its standards of the mid-1900s. Holden deals with his problems by running away and averting them. Holden Caulfield is an extremely judgmental…

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