In the movie Avatar soldier Jake Sully is split between two worlds and has to choose which one to fight for. In J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye teenager Holden Caulfield is also divided,between adulthood and childhood.
Salinger puts hidden meaning behind many things in the book that are an example of Holden’s struggle. For instance, Holden has “quite a bit of gray hair” on one side of his head while the other still has color (Salinger 57). This is odd considering Holden is only 16. The gray symbolizes adulthood because as you age your hair grays and since Holden has gray hair he can sometimes pass as an adult and get alcohol. The colored part symbolizes childhood because it is still young and full of life. The fact that his hair is split means that Holden is also split between these two worlds. The same message is seen when Holden goes to Central Park. When he goes to a duck lagoon he sees that “it was partly frozen and partly not frozen” (Salinger 154). The pond is divided between 2 states of being, just like Holden’s maturity. …show more content…
When he's heading towards the museum in the park he talks about how it was one of his favorite places to go when he was a kid. When he gets there now, however, he states, “wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me” (Salinger 122). He suddenly realizes that he's too old for the museum. This also happens when he and Phoebe go to the carousel in the park. As he sees Phoebe try to reach for the gold ring on the carousel he thinks “the thing with kids is if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it” (Salinger 211). This means that you have to let kids grow up. As he apprehends this it clicks for him that he needs to let his childhood go and move forward in life. He needs to let himself grow
Salinger puts hidden meaning behind many things in the book that are an example of Holden’s struggle. For instance, Holden has “quite a bit of gray hair” on one side of his head while the other still has color (Salinger 57). This is odd considering Holden is only 16. The gray symbolizes adulthood because as you age your hair grays and since Holden has gray hair he can sometimes pass as an adult and get alcohol. The colored part symbolizes childhood because it is still young and full of life. The fact that his hair is split means that Holden is also split between these two worlds. The same message is seen when Holden goes to Central Park. When he goes to a duck lagoon he sees that “it was partly frozen and partly not frozen” (Salinger 154). The pond is divided between 2 states of being, just like Holden’s maturity. …show more content…
When he's heading towards the museum in the park he talks about how it was one of his favorite places to go when he was a kid. When he gets there now, however, he states, “wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me” (Salinger 122). He suddenly realizes that he's too old for the museum. This also happens when he and Phoebe go to the carousel in the park. As he sees Phoebe try to reach for the gold ring on the carousel he thinks “the thing with kids is if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it” (Salinger 211). This means that you have to let kids grow up. As he apprehends this it clicks for him that he needs to let his childhood go and move forward in life. He needs to let himself grow