Critical Essays

Major Symbols of The Catcher in the Rye

Radio City Music Hall, with its Christmas show, the Rockettes, and the painfully sentimental war movie, symbolizes much of what Holden despises about inauthentic art that panders to the audience. Holden sees nothing religious or beautiful about the stage show. He thinks that "old Jesus probably would've puked if He could see it." The legendary precision of the Rockettes' chorus line leaves Holden cold. The movie is worse, because it manipulates the audience into a sentimental glorification of war and the military, which Holden despises. He couldn't even stand the Boy Scouts.

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