Catcher in the Rye Essay. The three main symbolic events which describe Holden's alienation from society are the red hunting hat, the museum and the ducks in the lagoon.

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Alienation from the Adult World

        The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger is a Bildungsroman about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who is having difficulties accepting and blending in with the adult world. Holden throughout the novel encounters awkward situations where he feels left out and alienated prior to the fact which he cannot make any real friends except for Phoebe his younger sister and Jane Gallagher which he now has lost contact to. Holden's incapability of becoming an adult keeps him constantly confused about society in general.  Every time Holden has a decent conversation with another adult he constantly feels neglected or insulted. Throughout the novel, the red hunting hat, the museum, and the ducks in the lagoon are three symbolic events which establish Holden's alienation from society.

        Holden first bought his red hunting hat in the beginning of the novel, just after he had left the fencing team because he had left all the equipment on the subway leading him to feel publicly humiliated. Every time Holden felt lonely or depressed his red hunting hat was what he used for self-protection. Holden likes the red hunting hat "with the peak around to the back" (27) because it makes him unique, and different from everyone else in society.  One might recognize this constant use of the red hunting hat when Holden realizes that Jane Gallagher went out with Stradlater; Holden's roommate. Holden always cared and respected Jane Gallagher since she was a close friend of him before. But when Holden finds out Stradlater, a jock which wouldn't appreciate Jane's beauty, he goes into a fight with him. This leads for Holden to become really depressed and lonely not only because of Jane but also because he had lost the fight. Holden then seeking for a friend goes to see Ackley. Ackley then again, disappoints Holden because Ackley had not given him the attention and moral support he really needed. This leads again for Holden to put "his red hunting hat on" and turn "the peak around to the back" the way he liked it (52).

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        The museum is a place Holden always enjoyed going to since childhood. "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move... Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you" (121). Holden goes to the museum two times in the novel. The first time he walks all the way through central park but does not enter the museum. When Holden arrives he is too afraid to enter because something might have changed in the museum. Holden feels left behind because everyone is doing something, going somewhere or becoming ...

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