A literary symbol is something, often an object, that stands for a significant concept or series of ideas. Sometimes it is emblematic of the values of the characters. Some of the most important symbols in The Catcher in the Rye are outlined in the following sections.
Preparatory School Life
Pencey Prep and Elkton Hills are examples of institutions that serve as symbols. For Holden, the schools represent the phony, cruel world of those who run them. Even the advertisements for Pencey Prep are misleading. They feature “some hot shot guy on a horse” performing equestrian feats. Holden says he has never even seen a horse at Pencey. The school’s motto is equally repulsive to Holden: “Since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men.” Holden can think of perhaps two boys who fit that description, and they probably came to Pencey that way. For Holden, a more typical example of the Pencey preppie is his roommate, Ward Stradlater, a boorish womanizer who gets by on superficial good looks and fake charm. Holden is being expelled for poor academic performance, but Stradlater wants to cheat by having Holden do his English theme for him since Holden does write well.
Even more serious is the cruelty that Holden has seen at prep schools. As he tells Phoebe, “You never saw so many mean guys in your life.” Holden dislikes the exclusivity and the prejudice against those who are neither attractive nor hip. He is ashamed of himself for going along with the crowd and joining a secret fraternity. Although James Castle’s brutally forced suicide took place at Elkton Hills, we get the idea that it could have happened at Pencey Prep just as easily. For Holden, the two schools are emblematic of a corrupt system designed by privileged adults and catering to boys who want to join their ranks. Part of Holden’s dilemma is that he struggles so hard against a system into which he was born.
Allie’s Baseball Glove
Allie’s left-handed baseball glove is a physically smaller but significant symbol in the novel. It represents Holden’s love for his deceased brother as well as Allie’s authentic uniqueness. Allie covered the glove with poems written in green ink so that he would have something to read when things got boring in the baseball field. This mitt is not a catcher’s mitt; it is a fielder’s glove. Holden has shown it to only one person outside the family: Jane Gallagher. When he writes a descriptive theme about the glove for Stradlater to turn in for his English assignment, of course the insensitive roommate does not understand.
Holden’s Red Hunting Cap
Holden’s red hunting cap is another small artifact of symbolic meaning. He bought it for one dollar in New York on the Saturday morning when he lost the fencing equipment. The cap is practical at times but is foolish-looking, with its extra-long bill and earflaps. It represents Holden’s delightful attraction to unusual qualities, in objects as well as people, that others might miss. He realizes that the hat is unfashionable and occasionally is careful about who sees it, but he loves it anyway. He likes to wear it with the bill pointing to the back, as a baseball catcher might. For Holden, it is a reading cap as much as a protection against the cold. Because this is a hunting cap, we might speculate on what it is that Holden is hunting.
Radio City Music Hall
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.
The Carrousel’s Gold Ring
A carrousel is a sort of motorized merry-go-round with seats that look like various animals, such as painted ponies, move up and down. Designed for children, some carrousels have a gold ring, perhaps 4 or 5 inches in diameter, hanging on the outer edge where the children might, with some difficulty, reach out and grab it as they pass by. The child who grabs the ring wins a prize of some sort: perhaps a free ride or a stuffed animal. However, there is some risk in going for the gold ring. The rider might even fall. So the gold ring represents a hope, a dream, and the chances that we must take to grab it. It is a major step for Holden to accept that kids will grab for the gold ring and adults must let them. It is part of life and part of growing up.
The Coming-of-Age Genre
Genre is a French word (pronounced ZHON-ruh) meaning a particular kind or type of art or literature. One popular genre of American fiction is the coming-of-age story. A typical example might be Robert Lipsyte’s novel The Contender, in which a young protagonist, near Holden’s age, begins in turmoil, struggles toward maturity, meets various obstacles that initially defeat him but that he finds he can overcome through virtue and perseverance, and eventually triumphs. Lipsyte’s novel is more interesting than most because the author uses a sport, boxing, to help the protagonist mature, but the main character does not triumph in the sport. He triumphs in life. This, however, is not Holden’s story.
The Catcher in the Rye is a coming-of-age novel with a twist. Holden does not follow the usual pattern. He begins in turmoil, struggles in turmoil, has a moment of epiphany (clarity of insight) watching Phoebe at the carrousel, but eventually suffers physical and emotional collapse. Holden does change toward the end of the book. His acceptance of Phoebe’s need to “grab for the gold ring” indicates that he sees her as a maturing individual who must be allowed to live her own life and take her own chances, even though she may fail or fall. Children must do this, and adults must let them. For better or worse, Holden is beginning to grow up; but he is far from any kind of triumph. He will go home and soon collapse, resulting in his stay at the sanitarium in California. We cannot know how he will be in the future. Salinger does not spoon-feed the reader a “happy” ending. In that way, the novel is more realistic, more lifelike and authentic than some representatives of the genre.
