Pete Yemc
Per. 7
The ending of The Catcher in the Rye was handled rather well, I thought. J.D. Salinger ended with Holden becoming more mature, but rather than being mature as an adult, Holden is mature in what one has to do to become an adult. Holden is going to go back to school after he gets out of here (the institution), where we are to assume, he will start his life all over again (but if we've learned anything from reading about Holden Caulfield, it is that he can never and will never be able to conform to the institution of school). Anyway, along Holden's maturing journey, I noticed a bunch of nifty little things for the discussion groups, which I figure are perfect to write about in my journal (which it is mine, so I ought to know what to put in it).
One little interesting tidbit, occurs when Holden decides to go west. We, the readers, already know that Holden "hate[s] living in New York" (page 130), which symbolizes that he does not wish to fall into line with all the other adults in the structured world of business. So he decides to go west. The west has always been perceived as the new world, where one can go to do what they want and to discover what they wish to do("Go west, young man", I believe is the famous quote on this subject). So this is what Holden does, hoping to escape from the claws of society and their expectations, only to be pulled back to societyŐs expectations (i.e., the institution).
Another symbolic event was Holden's riding of the merry-go-round. This was at the end of the novel (page 212), and it was the climax. As I see it, Holden had been trying all of this time to learn how and why he must grow up and become an adult. Through his trials, he had come closer and closer to realizing what the blatant truth was. Here, he rides the merry-go-round one last time as if it was his "final Hurrah". The merry-go-round ride symbolizes Holden's final realization that the fun part of irresponsible childhood is over. He knows it, and after three days (with little sleep I remind you) he knows that he must accept it. He does, crying at the horrid realization. I imagine the same feeling comes over a student upon their shove-off to college. The carefree days of childhood are over (except, we all donŐt get to ride a merry-go-round).
Coming off the symbols I discovered in the first 105 pages (the one about the ducks in the pond), for these 105 pages I have found another set off symbols. On page 173, Holden explains to Phoebe that one of the few things which he has been thinking about is the poem by Robert Burns, "If a Body Meet a Body CominŐ Through the Rye" (which Holden misinterprets as "if a body catch a body comin' through the rye"). This explanation defines what the title of the book means but also illustrates symbols for Holden and Holden's life. In HoldenŐs explanation, he is the only adult at the edge of a cliff and a field of rye. There are a bunch of kids playing in the rye, and it is Holden's job to catch them if they go over the edge. Well, this is how I see it. The rye is childhood. The cliff is the abyss of adulthood. Holden at the present moment is standing at the middle ground of his life, trying to determine where he will go. All of the little children are Holden's peers, who are trying to rush over the cliff into adulthood. Holden is trying to prevent his peers from growing up; he is trying to catch them before they can become adults. It all makes sense.
Here is one final note, this one actually building off of the "ducks in the lagoon" discovery of the first 105 pages. On page 154, Holden returns to the duck lagoon. By now all of the ducks have gone (all of his peers have grown up) and the pond is half frozen (his adolescent support structure are ceasing). Holden then goes and surveys the pond (He is looking at the structured life which he is going to have to accept) and he nearly falls in (He almost is pulled into the world which he doesnŐt wish to be). Throughout this entire book I feel that this "duck" quote is the most prominent, symbolically, for it encompasses all for which Holden is searching.