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The Symbolism of Holden’s Innocence

Sarah Johnson

North Central Michigan College

English 111/112

Seymour

January 6, 2022
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We’ve all had a moment when we wanted time to slow down, or when we feared our

innocence was being lost. The world often moves faster than we’re ready for and there’s no

stopping it. This makes us feel lost and tiny in such a big world. Throughout The Catcher in the

Rye by J.D. Salinger there are many examples of symbolism to show Holden’s concern of

growing up and losing his innocence. His detailed story, which only spans over three days, gives

us an inside look at how Holden tries to prevent his transition into adulthood. For the highly

observant person he is, it is ironic that he fails to notice his own reasoning for the things that he

does; whether he doesn’t realize them, or he does, and is just denying them to himself. Salinger

used three continuous symbols throughout the story in order to portray Holden’s fear of growing

up, which were his red hunter’s hat -his safety blanket, his fear of Central Park’s ducks having

nowhere to go during the winter, and the comfort he received from visiting the Museum of

Natural History.

Time and time again Holden mentions that he knows his red hunter’s hat looks corny or

odd, but that he doesn’t care because it keeps him warm and he likes it. We quickly notice that

every time Holden is faced with a difficult situation or thought he pulls out his hunter’s hat. He

first mentions the hat to the reader by revealing that he bought it in New York just after losing his

teammates' fencing equipment. This is where we are first shown the symbolism of his hat. After

failing his responsibility to hold onto the team’s equipment, Holden buys the hat to protect

himself from that failure. Then, throughout the rest of the story he continues to use it to shield

himself from adulthood and protect his innocence. Later on when visiting his sister Phoebe at

home we read, “Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and gave it to her,” (Salinger,

180), showing Holden’s fear of her losing her innocence as well, and his want to protect her from

adulthood. Then, towards the end of the book Holden confirms his feeling of safety he gets from
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the hat when he put it on in the rain and says, “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of

protection in a way, but I got soaked anyway,” (Salinger, 212-213). This makes it very obvious to

the reader that he is in fact not referring to it protecting him from the rain, but from adulthood.

Holden’s interest in the ducks from Central Park stems from many things, but one of the

main reasons is his fear of what he will do now. He questions where the ducks go in the winter

because he has now been kicked out of yet another school, and does not know how his parents

will react. Holden fears he has nowhere to go and is lost in life, similar to ducks in the winter.

Another interpretation of this symbolism is his realization that living beings must adapt in this

changing world, something he himself finds difficult. He feels left behind and lost in a world that

is constantly moving on without him. One more reason is shown when Holden asks, “The ducks.

Do you know by any chance? I mean does somebody come around in a truck or something and

take them away, or do they fly away by themselves -go south or something?” (Salinger, 81-82).

This is Holden questioning whether he will have to help himself get through this mess he’s made,

or if his parents will be alongside him to guide him. He fears the ducks have to make it on their

own, just as he might have to.

Everything around us is constantly changing, developing, leaving, but what about history

museums? History museums display the past, they show what has already happened, and the past

cannot be changed, therefore, neither can the museums. Holden finds comfort in this. When he

visits The Museum of Natural History he comments that, “The best thing, though, in that

museum was that everything always stayed right where it was,” (Salinger, 121). This yet again

shows his resistance and fear of change. He finds comfort in things that stay the same, and does

not want to grow up. This is another instance his innocence is shown passed down to Phoebe
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because she now attends the same museum for school, and it makes him miss the simplicity of

his childhood.

The symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye really transforms the story because Holden

himself does not realize many of these things, therefore, obviously he is not telling them in his

narrative. Without them, we would not understand Holden as well as we do. The meanings

behind his actions give us a better understanding of who he is and how he thinks. When reading

about the red hunter’s hat, the Central Park ducks, and Holden’s visit to The Museum of Natural

History, the symbolism was more effective than if Salinger had just put Holden’s feelings in the

text because it really formed who he was as a character and let the reader interpret how he was

dealing with his struggles. The text in the book that was written in Holden’s perspective is how

he seems from the outside, how the world sees him, but the symbolism is our way of digging

deeper to truly learn what goes on in Holden’s mind.

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Reference:

Salinger, J.D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown and Company.