Post by The Thought Police (admin) on Oct 4, 2017 7:46:31 GMT -5
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D Salinger is a bildungsroman story which explores the theme of isolation through the main character of Holden Caufield. Holden’s isolation is the main theme in the novel and is presented through many symbols. One symbol of isolation is Thomsen Hill where Holden goes over to watch over the world. “way the hell up on Thomsen Hill” this shows Holden’s isolation from his peers and school. It also shows that he has isolated himself from the rest of the world, he uses his isolation as a form of self-protection.It is later revealed that Holden’s isolation is all to do with a earlier incident with the school fencing team when he leaves foils and equipment on the train. “The whole team ostracised me” this suggests that the team excluded him, Holden’s general opinion of people at school is that they are all phonies suggesting that they are fake. Holden is cynical as he believes everything and everyone are phony so he pushes himself further and further away.
Another symbol that represents Holden’s isolation his red hunting hat. The red hunting hat is a recurring motif throughout the novel. In the early stages of the novel we learn that Holden buys a red hunting hat as it reminds him of his dead brother Allie. His brother died of Leukaemia and is the very likely cause of Holden’s anxieties about growing up as this childhood tragedy has scarred the young Holden and in a way, has deprived him of that innocence that he now wishes to protect. By wearing the hunting hat Holden feels the connection to his brother and it is the same colour as Allies hair. However, it also helps to isolate him from the rest of the world, like a protective disguise that he can pull further down over his head when he wants to feel protected. Salinger reinforces this when Holden calls his hat a ‘people shooting hat’ demonstrating his hostility towards others and his alienation from society.
Holden’s transition from childhood to adulthood is also a recurring motif throughout the novel. This is shown through the image of the ducks and the duck pond. It is used as a motif throughout the novel to chart Holden’s increasing anxiety about growing up. Initially he wonders where the ducks go in central park when the pond freezes. He hopes that a man in a truck comes to take them. Justas the freezing pond shows the transition between Autumn and Winter, it comes to represent Holden’s transition from childhood to adulthood. Holden sees himself as one of the ducks, about to fly away to somewhere mysterious and unknown. He hopes that there will be someone there for him. Holden looks for reassurance from various cab drivers which allows Salinger to further develop the motif. One taxi driver responds to him by saying Holden should not worry about the ducks and should look at what happens to fish when the pond freezes with the pond and then unfreeze when the season changes. He advised ‘mother nature’d take care of them’ This should reassure Holden that the transition is painless and he would hardly notice it as it is perfectly natural however, Holden ironically dismisses this as irrelevant.
One symbol that Salinger uses to represent Holden’s childhood innocence is a snowball. This is a minor symbol. Holden engages in the childish pastime of rolling up a snowball. However, he cannot bring himself to actually throw it as his target of a van as it looked too white and pure instead he hung onto the snowball. This represents his desire to hang onto childhood innocence, but also that he cannot engage in childish activities anymore as he is no longer a child.
Holden’s brother is an important piece of symbolism throughout the novel. Oldens brother Allie died at a very young age with leukaemia. Holden now hates the world as he seen Allie as the best thing in the world so now that he has been taken away from him Holden now sees the world as taking the best from him so there is no good left in the world. Holden wants to hold onto his childhood for as long as he can as his childhood was stripped from him at a young age after going through such a tragic event at such a young age. Allie will always be the perfect pure example of childhood innocence as he will never grow up. This is the route of any of Holden’s emotional issues such as his desire to protect children and his inability to do well in school.
Holden was kicked out of his school for many different reasons, through the novel we have found that Holden didn’t particularly like the school anyway. The school claims that it has been moulding students into clear thinking men since 1888 however, Holden disagrees with this ‘They don’t do any dam more moulding at Pencey than they do at any other school’ This shows Holden doesn’t see Pencey better than any other school and he doesn’t believe that they are setting them on the correct path for their lives after school. It also suggests that the school is not special in Holden eyes. It is later revealed the real reason why Holden doesn’t enjoy or try hard I school it all comes back to his brother Allie as he was the perfect picture of childhood innocence and he was also a very high achiever in school and Holden doesn’t believe that he can live up to the standards of Allie so he doesn’t try to.
Overall ‘The Catcher In the Rye’ by J.D Salinger has a very effective opening as we learn a lot about Holden Caufield as a person and the difficulties he has faced as a child which is why he likes to hold on to his childhood innocence for as long as he possibly can. The difficulties he has facced and his solation ae represented through a number of different symbols which are shown throughout the novel. The opening also sets the tone of the novel effectively and allows us to determine what will happen next in the story through the several motif’s used within the opening.