Catcher in the Rye- Aleia Amaya

A symbol that has been seen widely throughout the book has been the ducks. Holden always seems to ask taxi drivers or new strangers; “you know the ducks that swim around in it [the lake]? In the spring time and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?” (81). Which to most people, this wouldn’t even be a logical or relevant question to be asking anybody. But, every time Holden asks this question he gets a “sore” reply similar to; “How the hell should I know a stupid thing like that.”
When I read about Holden’s utter curiosity with the ducks it tells me two things. One, that Holden doesn’t understand why the ducks keep leaving. Then, two, that the ducks represent all the people in his life that have left him without him knowing where they leave to or understanding why they left in the first place. It bothers Holden to not know, it’s an emotional and a mental discomfort that affects him immensely.
While in the museum Holden expresses himself by saying “The best thing, though, in that museum, was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move…Nobody’d be different. The only thing that’d be different would be you” (121). This shows that Holden’s extremely “lonesome” (149).
The ducks, the museum displays, and the desperate attempt to make friends (i.e. Sunny, Sally, Luce, The Nuns, etc.) all symbolize his sadness towards the people who left him behind.


work cited:
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.