Symbolism in J. D. Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye

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thoughts for as long as possible without distraction, as demonstrated in one of the last scenes of the book. While at the Central Park carousel with his younger sister Phoebe, it starts to rain, and Phoebe hands Holden his hunting hat to protect him from the rainfall while she rides the carousel. Holden explains, “My hunting hat gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway” (p. 275). Holden’s statement reveals that his hunting hat gave him protection, although he still got soaked from the rain, representing that the hat was not protecting him from the rain, but rather from his peers and anything distracting him from his beautiful, innocent sister Phoebe riding the carousel. Holden puts his red hunting hat on when he needs to feel safe and comfortable, without the distractions of the environment that he’s in, letting him focus completely on his thoughts or anything else he wishes to focus on.

The Natural History Museum’s glass cases symbolise timelessness in the sense that, while the world is constantly changing, the small worlds within the glass cases remain the same, frozen in time. Holden says, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was … the only thing that would be different would be you” (p. 157-8). When Holden says this, it is representing Holden’s love for the consistency and lack of aging of the exhibits behind the glass cases, and he loves that everytime you go back you will be different, but can always expect those exhibits to of never changed. Holden also says that, “Certain things they should just stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (p. 158). By “certain things,” Holden is referring to innocence and the lack of societal order and boundaries and responsibility that come along with it. Holden is attracted to this sense of freedom that comes along with being a small child and the sense of consistency that comes along with the museum’s glass cases, because they represent Holden’s growth due to their constant still state. The glass cases represent timelessness, an idea Holden strives for and gives him something he constantly comes back to time after time.

The Catcher in the Rye is filled with symbolism that J. D. Salinger planted throughout the novel, and with understanding of this symbolism, the book becomes much more interesting. The nuns and James Castle, Holden’s red hunting hat, and the Natural History Museum’s glass cases are symbols in The Catcher in the Rye that, without interpretation, will make the book bland and without true, deep meaning. Symbolism is the most important part of J. D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, over the storyline, and it teaches those new to symbolism about what it’s all about, opening future opportunity for them the identify symbolism in literature and in the world.