Symbolism_in_the_Catcher_in_the_Rye

Symbolism in Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has long been hailed as one of the best coming of age stories in American literature. It follows a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, who gets expelled from prep school, and finds himself alone in the phony adult world. Holden’s disillusionment with the world and the people in it present him with a constant struggle between growing up and remaining a child. This struggle is illustrated by the various objects and ambitions that surround Holden and play the role of symbols. A symbol, by definition, is “something used for or regarded as representing something else” (dictionary.com) The constant utilization of symbols throughout Catcher in the Rye serves the purpose of communicating the struggle between wanting to grow up and be a source of salvation for others, and wanting to remain an innocent, protected child unscathed by the reality of the world. One of the most prominent symbols in the book is Holden’s red hunting hat. The hat symbolizes the connection to childhood that Holden is trying so hard not to loose. The red color of the hat serves as a connection to Holden’s younger siblings, Allie and Phoebe, who both have red hair. Both Allie and Phoebe represent to Holden the innocence of childhood. Phoebe, being the surviving younger sibling, represents the innocence that Holden feels he needs to protect as it is only a matter of time before she grows up and enters the phony adult world. Allie, who died several years prior, represents someone who has never had to loose his childhood innocence and who will remain a child indefinitely. Holden wears his hunting hat when he wishes to be perceived as a child, like his younger siblings. He prefers to wear it backwards even though he admits it is “very corny” (Salinger 17). This also serves as a connection to his deceased brother who was a baseball player and the catcher in a baseball game typically wears his hat backwards. A baseball game is typically associated with childhood and is a relatively innocent and harmless situation; however, Holden often finds himself, or puts himself, in adult situations that move him away from childhood and into the adult world. After Holden gets into a fight with Stradlater he says “I couldn’t find my goddam hunting hat anywhere” (Salinger 45). Holden rarely fights and fighting is not congruent with an innocent child so naturally when Holden is in an adult situation he is without his hat because he is moving farther away from the childhood the hunting hat symbolizes. The fight was a situation Holden would have preferred to avoid, but many of the adult situations Holden finds himself in are of his own doing because despite Holden’s desire to be an innocent child he also wants to experience some of the benefits of being an adult (Baer and Gesler 408). When in public he typically takes off his hunting hat in an effort to look more mature by showing off his grey hair. He often uses his height and adult-looking hair in his attempts to buy alcohol and pick up women. However, his façade fools few and his age and maturity are constantly questioned by the other characters. The red hunting hat also serves another purpose in illustrating Holden’s inner struggle. The hat is a form of protection to Holden shielding him from the adult world and allowing him to hold onto his childhood; however, it also represents his desire to catch and save other people, particularly children. Back at Pencey Hall when Ackley points out that the hat is a deer hunting hat Holden responds “This is a people shooting hat… I shoot people in this hat” (Salinger 22). The idea of hunting people does not necessarily mean shooting and killing them but more of catching and protecting them. It fits in with Holden’s dream of catching little children before they fall off the cliff. However, the hat also serves the purpose of protecting Holden. He puts it on when he is nervous and anxious to hear about Stradlater’s date, after his fight with Stradlater, when he runs away from Pencey and when he is drunk and is wandering alone in the park. All of these instances show Holden putting on the hat when he feels distress or when he feels particularly alone. The hat acts as a sort of shield protecting Holden from testing situations. But as much as Holden needs and craves protection from the real world these feelings are often overshadowed by his desire to protect others. When Holden leaves Phoebe in her room he gives her his hat. Although Holden clearly needs protection as he has no idea what to do next, he is overcome by his desire to prevent Phoebe from suffering the same fate he is heading for. However, when Holden goes to see Phoebe before he goes west Phoebe gets mad and “took off the red hunting hat… and practically chucked it” (Salinger 207), this act demonstrates that Phoebe is not the one who needs protection. She does not share Holden’s wariness of the adult world. In this moment Phoebe proves to be Holden’s protector as she is the one extending the hat, and indeed, Phoebe’s anger discourages Holden from leaving. Holden tried to save Phoebe by offering the hat and in the process he is saved himself (Trowbridge 22). Thus, the hat represents both Holden protecting others and being protected himself. The idea that Holden both needs to give and receive protection is characterized by other symbols in addition to the red hunting hat, namely the ducks and the children. Throughout the book Holden asks several people where the ducks in the central park pond go in the winter. The answer seems fairly obvious: the ducks migrate in the winter and fly back in the summer; however, Holden continues to wonder. He asks a cab driver “does somebody come around in a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves” (Salinger 82). The ducks journey south and Holden’s journey to adulthood are parallel in the sense that both journeys are trying but are natural occurrences and inevitable. Holden wants to know if the ducks receive aid or if they have to complete the journey on their own, just as he wants to know if someone will help him on his journey. Holden voices his desire for a protector by trying to figure out if someone protects the ducks. The cab driver responds by saying the ducks are just stuck there in the winter. This represents another alternative to the journey. If the ducks do not get help or they do not do it themselves then they are stuck through the dangerous, difficult winter, similar to the situation Holden will be in if he continues to put off the inevitable journey into adulthood. While the ducks represent Holden’s desire for protection the children in the book represent Holden’s need to protect others. Holden expresses how difficult it is for him to visit Allie’s grave. Although Allie is dead Holden cannot stand to watch it rain on Allie’s grave knowing there is nothing he can do to stop it. Holden cannot protect Allie anymore and this causes a high level of anxiety whenever he is near Allie’s grave. Holden cannot protect Allie anymore but he can protect other children. He tells Phoebe about his fantasy of keeping all the children in a field of rye and his job is to protect them from falling off the cliff, the cliff represents the plunge into the impure adult world where they will loose their innocence (Baer and Gesler 409). Holden’s unrealistic fantasy is symbolic in the sense that growing up cannot and probably should not be prevented. Further instance of Holden trying to protect children’s innocence comes when he visits his former school, which is now Phoebe’s. While sitting on a bench Holden sees a curse word and angrily rubs it off to prevent children coming into contact with an impure word. A little while later Holden comes across the word again, this time scratched permanently into the wall. When Holden can’t erase it he comes to the conclusion “if you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out half the ‘f*** you’ signs in the world. It’s impossible” (Salinger 202). This conclusion reiterates the idea that a child growing up is inevitable, it is near impossible to keep them young and innocent forever. However, it also reinforces Holden’s desire to try to keep the children innocent even if the monumental task cannot be accomplished. He strives to be the protector of these children whether or not it is possible. Holden’s desire to stay a child and protect other children from loosing their innocence in the adult world is symbolized by his fascination with things that do not change. Holden reflects on his school visits to the Museum of Natural History. He has particularly fond memories about the Eskimos who were always fishing. Holden states that the best thing about the museum was “everything always stayed right where it was… the only thing that would be different would be you” (Salinger 121). Holden’s fondness of permanence demonstrates his strong desire to not mature into the adult world. He envies the fact that the museum exhibits never have to change but he does, everybody does. He only person in Holden’s life who does not change is Allie. In Holden’s mind Allie will always be a young, innocent child and Holden, as well as everyone else, will continue to grow and change. After Holden experiences his “fall” he visits the Museum of Natural History and reflects on the mummies in the tombs. Holden admits that he used to be afraid of the mummies but now finds their permanence and peacefulness symbolic of his ideal world (Trowbridge 21). The mummies, like Allie, are dead and perpetually unchanging. However, Holden discovers a curse word written near the display and decides “you can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any” (Salinger 204). The realization that not even death is an escape from the impurities of life is rather shocking to Holden because if death is not an escape then nothing is. Holden goes from admiring the unchanging exhibits and the ideal life they represent to realizing that even the most appealing of situations has its flaws. Another reoccurring theme throughout the book is things that fall. The fall can represent a child falling into adulthood or a detrimental fall that prevents the child from becoming an adult. Holden, throughout the book, reflects on a former classmate of his, James Castel, who committed suicide by jumping out a dormitory window. Although Holden claims he didn’t really know Castle, Castle was wearing Holden’s sweater at the time of his death which serves as a link between Holden and Castle. An admired teacher, Mr. Antolini, picked up Castle after his deadly fall. Antolini sees the similarities between Castle and his fall and Holden and the path he’s on. He predicts that Holden is headed for “some kind of terrible, terrible fall” (Salinger 186). ; However, despite Antolini’s kindness and willingness to help he fails Holden just as he failed Castle. Mr. Antolini never saved Castle he was merely there to pick up the pieces, and similarly he proves not to be the savior Holden thought he was because Holden wakes up and finds Antolini disturbingly touching him (Baumbach 2). After Holden leaves Antolini’s residence he does, in fact, experience the predicted fall. While walking on Fifth Avenue Holden is overcome with a fear that each time he steps off the sidewalk into the street he would never get to the other side as Holden describes it “I thought I’d just go down, down, down and nobody’d ever see me again” (Stradlater 197), he begs Allie to save him, crying out “Allie, don’t let me disappear” (Stradlater 198). The sidewalk represents safety, safety from the dangers of the real world. Every time Holden steps off the safe sidewalk he plunges into the perilous street. Holden’s fear that he would never resurface is similar to his fear of what will happen if he enters the adult world, and just like he wants a protector to guide him into the adult world he wants a protector to guide him back to the safety of the sidewalk. He wants Allie to be his savior but Allie has already disappeared from Holden’s life and can no longer help Holden. However, Holden’s other younger sibling, Phoebe, can still help him and she does. Holden drops and shatters the record he bought for Phoebe, during one of the moments in the book when he is most vulnerable, and Phoebe picks up the shards and saves them because she likes to keep them. The broken record is very symbolic of Holden who also has experienced a terrible fall that has left him broken and alone. Just like Phoebe saves the record pieces she also saves Holden by showing him that he can’t fear growing up. The final scene where Holden watches Phoebe ride the carousel is symbolic in the sense that the carousel represents being on the verge of changing but never actually doing it and the rings on the carousel represent the promise of life (Trowbridge 22). The carousel represents a never ending circle, the circular motion has the potential for change but it never actually happens (Baumbach 5). The never changing carousel is Holden’s ideal image for life he even admits that the “nice thing about carousels, they always play the same songs” (Salinger 210). Holden likes the parts of the carousel that are not changing, but the children on the carousel all want to take risks and reach for the rings. The rings represent the risks one has to take to successfully transition from child to adult. Success is not guaranteed as falling is always an option, but plenty of people are willing to take the risk. When Holden watches Phoebe he comes to the conclusion that even though the carousal poses a danger you can’t stop the kids from reaching for the rings because “if the fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them” (Salinger 211). Holden realizes that its better to let kids run the natural course of life and that includes becoming an adult. Phoebe makes Holden put his hat on once again putting herself in the position of protector. It begins to downpour and Holden remarks on how the hat protected him from a lot of the rain, but not all of it. So although the hat gives some protection it is not a complete shelter and allows most of the real world to seep in. The rain also serves as a connection to Allie whose grave Holden doesn’t like to watch it rain on because Allie cannot be sheltered like everyone else. The story ends with Holden expressing his mixed feelings about sharing his journey. It can be assumed that Holden’s mental breakdown and subsequent “fall” landed him in a hospital where he is now recovering. The fact that Holden is admitting his issues and receiving treatment gives the reader hope that Holden, in the future, will turn his life around and be successful. But Holden admits he doesn’t know what will happen in the future or whether he’ll finally come to terms with the unavoidable transition between being an innocent child and being an adult. Works Cited Baer, Leonard D., and Wilbert M. Gesler. Reconsidering the Concept of Therapeutic Landscapes in J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Blackwell Limited. 404-13. Print. Baumbach, Jonathan. "The Saint as a Young Man: A Reappraisal of The Catcher in the Rye." Modern Language Quarterly Dec. 1964. Web. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print. "Symbol | Define Symbol at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 09 June 2010. . Trowbridge, Clinton W. "The Symbolic Structure of the Catcher in the Rye." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: The Catcher in the Rye. 21-30. Print.