Obsession on Childhood Theme in The Catcher in the Rye Essay Example

How is figuring out life as a 16 year old boy? In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfeild figures out his life after he gets expelled from his prep school in New Jersey. Throughout the book, Holden plays a game of tug of war between his wanting to be an adult and his wanting to stay a child. One of the principal themes in the novel is wanting to hold onto childhood and never change. Holden admires the innocence, and he frowns upon the “phoniness” of the adult world. Holden dips his toes into the pool of adulthood, but he is clearly not ready to commit until the very end of the novel and prefers to stay in the world of childhood. Holden’s struggle in between these two worlds is made clear to the reader through many different symbolic objects.

The main symbols that help prove this theme are The Natural history museum that he visited ever since he was a child, the Central Park ducks that he is fascinated by, and finally the Carousel that he and his sister visit at the end of the novel.

In Chapter 16, Holden visits the Natural History Museum while he waits for Sally to show up for their date. Holden explains why he likes the Museum. He expresses that “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (Salinger 157). Holden explains why he likes the museum so much, further conveying his envy of childhood innocence and not changing. The reason Holden loves the museum is because it brings to him a frozen, silent, never changing, non-judgmental vision of life. This vision of life is his perfect vision, that he wishes he could live in. The museum statues bring to Holden an example of the simple, ideal, manageable, “perfect” life that Holden wants, leading him to envy these museum statues. The museum also represents Holden’s desire to keep everything the same. Holden likes knowing that something in his life can be constant, and never change. 

In addition, another symbolic object to Holden are the ducks in central park. When he takes the taxi to New York, he asked the Taxi driver, “ You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” . Knowing that Holden is in highschool, the reader can assume that Holden already knows that ducks migrate in the winter, because this is common sense to most people. However, the duck’s have a deeper meaning to Holden than what it may first appear. Holden hopes to learn how the ducks survive the harsh winter environment, hoping that he can use their method for his own struggles to survive. His evident concern for the ducks also represents his own concern about growing up, and he asks himself if it’s possible for him to stay the same non phony person when he grows up. Another reason that Holden asks about the ducks is because the ducks, to him, signify the vulnerable, innocent characters in the book that he cares about, like Phoebe and Jane, who, in his eyes,  are at risk of being harmed by events and people in the adult world which he frowns upon.

Finally, Holden takes Phoebe to the carousel that he used to go to as a child. Initially, the song at the carousel is the same one that played when he was a child, but, after the song was over, a different song starts playing. As the other song plays, the reader can notice the maturity Holden shows, especially his response to when Phoebe and the other kids were reaching for a gold ring and were probably going to fall off. Even though he knows this is not a good idea, he lets the kids reach for the ring, stating that “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (Salinger 274). This shows that Holden is letting go of Phoebe, letting her make her own decisions and mistakes. The reason that this is at the end of the novel is to show his maturity and how he grew up. The repeating theme in the whole novel is mostly just about him admiring childhood and things never changing. However, at the end, the reader can see how this theme is broken with the change of song, and Holden’s change of mindset. Holden also decides not to go on the rise, recognizing that he is no longer a child and should no longer ask like one.

The repeating theme throughout the novel is Holden’s jealousy and admiration towards childhood innocence and never changing, however at the end, Holden realizes that changing is inevitable and that growing up is just an unavoidable part of life. Some of the symbols that represent this theme are the The Natural history museum that he visited ever since he was a child, the Central Park ducks that he is fascinated by, and finally the Carousel that he and his sister visit at the end of the novel. Whether Holden likes it or not, growing up and leaving the child world happens in everyone's life, and no matter what he does to avoid it, he can’t. Part of a 16 year old’s life is to orient themselves in the world, grow up, and learn how to fit in with the complex society that we live in.