Holden Caulfield is one of the most interesting and confusing characters in all of literature. He is the seventeen-year-old narrator and protagonist in The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. Holden, who is in a mental institution, tells the story of a weekend spent in New York when he was sixteen after he was kicked out of his fourth school for failing four out of his five classes. Holden is a very opinionated boy who has been related to by teenagers over the last 60 years. Throughout the book, he begins to understand that childhood innocence cannot be protected forever and everybody must learn to grow up at some point in his or her lives. Holden is unique in many ways, unfortunately, his many weaknesses, that are brought into focus throughout
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In New York, Holden buys a red hunting hat, and other kids would tease him for wearing it. Holden describes it, "It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back-- very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way" (Salinger 27). Holden is always proud that he is different from everybody around him, and he sees that hat as a part of his independence. He likes to think that he is not a "phony", and will do anything possible to show how different he is than all the other "phonies". The red hat is a metaphor for anything original, clothes, opinions, race, gender, etc. The idea that originality is important reflects on J.D. Salinger’s ideas, and is an important topic even today. Holden thinks about is the lagoon in Central Park, and the ducks that occupied it. He wonders, “I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over" (Salinger 67). Holden is curious about the ducks in the lagoon, because, possibly subconsciously, he himself does not know where he is going, or how to get there. This again reflects J.D. Salinger and his doubts about
In New York, Holden buys a red hunting hat, and other kids would tease him for wearing it. Holden describes it, "It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back-- very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way" (Salinger 27). Holden is always proud that he is different from everybody around him, and he sees that hat as a part of his independence. He likes to think that he is not a "phony", and will do anything possible to show how different he is than all the other "phonies". The red hat is a metaphor for anything original, clothes, opinions, race, gender, etc. The idea that originality is important reflects on J.D. Salinger’s ideas, and is an important topic even today. Holden thinks about is the lagoon in Central Park, and the ducks that occupied it. He wonders, “I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over" (Salinger 67). Holden is curious about the ducks in the lagoon, because, possibly subconsciously, he himself does not know where he is going, or how to get there. This again reflects J.D. Salinger and his doubts about