English I: Spring 2012

1. English I: Spring 2012 The Catcher in the Rye Themes, Motifs, Symbols

2. Theme: Alienation as a Form of Self-Protection • Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him. • As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he does not belong. • As the novel progresses, we begin to see that Holden’s alienation is a way of protecting himself.

3. Continued • Just as he wears his hunting hat to express his uniqueness, he uses his isolation to prove that he is better than everyone else, and therefore, above interacting with them. • Interactions with others confuse and overwhelm him, and his cynical sense of superiority serves as a type of self-protection. • Holden’s alienation is the source of what little stability he has in his life and also the source of most of his pain. • Needs contact and love, but his own bitterness prevents him from seeking it out.

4. Continued • Source of Holden’s strength and the source of his problems • Longs for the type of connection that he had with Jane Gallagher, but fear prevents him from contacting her. • He depends upon his alienation, but it destroys him.

5. Theme: Coming of Age • Holden resists maturity itself • Holden fears change and complexity (Natural History Museum)—wants everything to be easily understandable and eternally fixed like the statues of Eskimos and Indians at the museum • Is guilty of the sins that he criticizes other for. Fears his inability to understand the world around him. • Refuses to acknowledge his fears, except in a few instances (Chapter 9—sex)

6. Continued • Adult world=superficiality, hypocrisy, “phoniness” • Child world=innocence, curiosity, honesty • Fantasy about The Catcher in the Rye: he imagines childhood as a big field of rye in which children romp and play; adulthood, for the children of this world, is equivalent to death—a fatal fall over the edge of a cliff • Covers himself with cynicism to avoid both worlds • Shallow conceptions

7. Theme: The Phoniness of the Adult World • Holden’s catch-all for the superficiality, hypocricy, and shallowness that he encounters in the world around him. • Chapter 22—all adults are inevitably phonies, but worse, they don’t see their own phoniness. • Phoniness=everything that is wrong with the world and gives him an excuse to hide behind his cynicism • Holden’s observations are not entirely inaccurate • Holden can be a highly insightful character

8. Continued • Holden never understands his own phoniness because he is so focused on others • The world is not has simple (and black and white) as Holden wants or needs it to be.

9. Motifs • Definitions: recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes

10. Motif: Loneliness • Manic quest for companionship—flits from one relationship to another • Holden doesn’t understand his own mind or why he behaviors/feels the way he does • Holden messes up his own attempts at ending his loneliness because he wants to preserve his isolation to avoid getting hurt • Loneliness is the emotional proof of the alienation that Holden experiences; it is both a source of great pain and a source of his security

11. Motif: Relationships, Intimacy, and Sexuality • What he fears most about the adult world: complexity, unpredictability, and the potential for conflict and change • Holden projects his own idealizations about childhood on to Phoebe • Holden fears intimacy and sexuality because he in unwilling to let people get close to him • Holden continues to desperately search for relationships, but breaking them down at the last moment

12. Motif: Lying and Deception • Holden is most critical of those who do not recognize their own weaknesses • Lying=phoniness; indicates insensitivity, carelessness, or even cruelty • His random and repeated lying indicates his own self-deception. • Does not recognize his own shortcomings and does not acknowledge how his actions affect others • Guilty of the same phoniness that he accuses others of

13. Symbol: The Hunting Hat • Uniqueness and Individuality • Holden desires to be different from everyone around her • Self-conscious of the hat • Presence of the hat mirrors the central conflict in the novel: Holden’s needs for isolation versus his need for companionship • Red hat—Allie and Phoebe both have red hair (coincidence?)—A means of connecting?

14. Symbol: The Museum of Natural History • Displays appeal to Holden because they are frozen and unchanging • Troubled by the fact that he has changed each time he visits the museum • A world he wishes he could live in • Terrified by unpredictable nature of the world, scared of change, does not understand the senseless death of Allie, and fear interaction with others

15. Symbol: The Ducks in the Central Park Lagoon • Reveals a genuine and youthful side to his character • Curiosity of youth • Mysterious survival in the face of a difficult environment (parallels Holden’s own situation) • Ducks prove that some vanishings are only temporary (Holden’s fear of change)—change that isn’t permanent would be more bearable (Allie’s death is permanent) • “partly frozen, partly not frozen” (transition) Holden is between childhood and adulthood

16. Symbol: Radio City Music Hall • Rockettes and war memorial movie • Inauthentic (phony) art that panders to the audience • Holden is left cold by the performance • Audience is manipulated by the sentimental glorification of war and military—Holden hates this

17. Symbol: The Carrousel’s Golden Ring • A hope, a dream, the chances we must take to grab the gold ring • It is hard for Holden to understand the concept that children will reach for the ring and adults must let them • A part of life and part of growing up

18. Symbol: Allie’s Baseball Mitt • Holden’s love for Allie and his uniqueness • Left-handed • Poems in green ink • A fielder’s glove, not a catcher’s mitt?

19. Symbol: Pencey Prep and Elkton Hills • Phony and cruel world • School pictures and mottos are misleading • Stradlater—wants Holden to cheat, yet Holden is being expelled for failing courses • Cruelty Holden has seen at the prep schools • Holden dislikes the exclusivity and the prejudice • James Castle’s suicide at Elkton Hills • 2 schools are emblematic of are corrupt system of privileged adults designed for those who want to join their ranks • Holden struggles against a system in which he was born