The Catcher in the Rye: Symbolism and Holden's Fear of Change

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“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger is a criticly aclaimed bildungsroman novel set mostly in New York City during the late 1940s. In the novel, the author’s use of symbolism reinforces Holden Caulfield’s fear of change and more specifically, growing older. Three of the symbols that reinforce this are: The Museum of Natural History, Holden’s curiosity about where the ducks in the Central Park lagoon go for the winter and the “fuck you” grafitti. To begin, in the novel, Holden says that he likes The Museum of Natural History because the displays always stay the same. For example, in chapter 16 he says, “Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you…certain things they should stay the way they are.” (p. 121-122) Because of his fear of change, he finds comfort in something that has stayed constant since he was a young boy. The Museum symbolizes the world in which Holden would like to live. A world where nothing changes, no one grows older and where everything is easy to understand like the display with the indians. In chapter 16, Holden says “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and leave them alone.” (p. 122) This quote expresses how much he would like things to stay the same. Also, when he first visits the museum, he changes his mind about going inside. This is because he remembers visiting the museum when he was young and now that he is different and is much older he does not want his memories of the museum to change. He wants to keep them in a “big glass case and leave them alone”. He does this becuause he is afraid of change. Furthermore, Holden is very curious about where the ducks in the Central Park lagoon go for the winter. Holden’s curiosity about where the ducks go represents his youthful side. His inquisitive nature shows that even

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