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Allie’s baseball mitt represents Holden’s connection to his feelings that he had left. Holden didn’t “ catch” feelings for many but his brother was one of the few he truly cared about/ After Allie’s passing, Holden felt empty and needed to keep a reminder that his brother would always be with him in spirit. It has writing on it because of Allie’s love of literature, which was also his motivation to do well in English.

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The carousel represents childhood, memories, and a patterned system that never changes. The carousel moves in the same direction and movement, so it is predictable. Holden longs for a predictable life that doesn’t change, but he is aware that this will never happen. It also symbolizes the joyful ness of youth and childhood memories.

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Holden wears the red hunting hat as a symbol of his individuality and a sense of power. Wearing the hat that was uncommon in fashion proved to Holden himself and others around him that he was different and not the same as everyone else. Moreover, the hat gave him a jolt of confidence and made him feel powerful enough to somewhat mask his depression and weakness of pain.

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The ducks on the pond symbolizes Holden not knowing what or where to go in his life. He kept on asking people how to know where to go within the ducks and there migration.

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For Holden the hunting hat was his childhood into an item. Every time he put on the hat he got lost into old memories and felt like himself when he wore it.

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Holden talks about how in the glass box no one moved and everything was still. He also hinted at keeping things the same, just as how he wanted to keep his childhood and not moved to adulthood.

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Holden did not want to become an adult causing him to get into trouble. He did not want to graduate from high school because that meant he became an adult and start caring for himself.

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In the book Holden often looks at children and how there lives were so easy and low key. He also would make hints back to his youth days. Such as going on field trips to museums.

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The ducks in the pond leave the cold of New York for the comfort of the warm south in the winter months. Holden wonders where they go and envy’s them. The ducks symbolizes Holden’s want for a safe space he can retreat to when times get hard.

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Holden often resorts to smoking or drinking in order to distract himself from other things. He goes to bars, talks to random people, gets drunk, and shows many symptoms of this as well. It affects his well-being but he does it anyhow to escape the reality he lives in. It is a physical sign of his deteriorating mental health.

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The ducks and the pond are an important symbol because they relate to Holden’s life. Holden wonders where the ducks go in the winter when the pond freezes and he never finds out the answer to his question. He asks this question many different times throughout  the book but it is always randomly in the middle of a conversation. This question relates to Holden because it shows uncertainty and Holden is uncertain about what he wants to do in life.

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At the very beginning, Holden forgets to grab the equipment for the fencing team. Right off the bat this shows how careless he can be at times, and how his mind is in a thousand places at once. It symbolizes the lack of stability in Holden’s life

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It becomes part of Holden’s identity in a way. He mentions it multiple times in the book, and he always is talking about how he might look crazy with it on. He even taps it sometimes, maybe for good luck or reassurance. He then gives it to his sister Phoebe, and it’s one of his prized possessions. It’s kind of Holden’s symbol in a way (a way to identify him, set him apart, a physical object used to recognize him and his crazy tendencies).

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The ducks at the pond are free. They can do whatever they want to do, leave whenever they please. To Holden, this idea of individuality and freedom is foreign to him in a way, so the ducks excite and intrigue him because he sees objects of nature living a way that he maybe wishes he could.

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This symbolizes comfort, familiarity, an old memory that cannot be touched or ruined. It’s important because to Holden, his childhood might be his glass box where he wishes he could go back to some of the simpler times when his brother was still alive, and he didn’t have to smoke/drink everyday in order to feel something.

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The Glass Box symbolizes Holden’s fear of change and new environments. He prefers to be in a comfort zone or familiar place most often. Additionally, he does not want to leave the “shelter” of his childhood. The glass box represents a shelter of an object, which makes sure it cannot be damaged or changed. Holden wants to be like the object inside, and have “a glass box” protecting him from the damage of himself when he gets to the adult world.

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Holden lies about who he is to other people and makes up stories to make himself seem more interesting or accomplished because he’s not comfortable in his own skin and might be embarrassed. Holden refuses to make close connections with people (this might be a trauma response to Allie’s death) and would rather pretend he’s someone he’s not in order to avoid confrontation and closeness with another human being.

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Holden doesn’t apply himself when at school, he fails out of multiple academies and probably doesn’t try anymore because he’s too scared to put in effort for something if he’ll only fail in the end anyhow. If he doesn’t try in school, then he knows he will fail, but he failed because he chose to. In this way he feels like he has some power over the outcome, so its not as crushing news.

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Throughout the book, Holden struggles to break away from others and embracing his own life/personality. He is not the same as anyone else and does not realize how special he is.

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Holden is coming to the age where he needs to fend for himself and live his own life. He struggles to escape his childhood’ glass box and flunks most of his classes. Holden cannot embrace his new responsibilities.

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When Jane played checkers, she would have her kings in the back. This represents cautiousness and safety. Jane was a thoughtful person who would not get herself into risky situations.

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Holden’s red hunting hat symbolizes individuality and personality. The hat makes him different from everyone else. He has his own personality and desires.

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In the museum, the glass boxes which keep the exhibits safe represent change and time passing on. As Holden revisits the museum, he realizes how he has changed over time.

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Allie’s baseball mitt symbolizes passion. Allie was very passionate about poetry and wrote poems onto his mitt. Holden does not know what his passion is, but he does want to be a “catcher in the rye.”

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The ducks symbolize purpose to Holden. In the winter, the ducks know where they need to go to survive. Unlike the ducks, Holden does not have a plan for how he wants to live his life.

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The Glass Box Holden sees fascinates him very much. The glass box shows how Holden doesn’t want change and doesn’t look forward to the future. The glass box symbolizes a time in Holden’s life where he was truly happy and things were simple.

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The red hunting hat Holden wear is very important to him. The hat gives him comfortability and individuality. The red hunting hat symbolizes Holden’s personality.

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Holden buys the record for his younger sister, Phoebe, and spends a lot of money on it. This shows how much Phoebe mean to him, and how he thinks about her all the time. Then when he breaks the record it makes him really sad because it almost like a part of his relationship with Phoebe has been shattered. The broken record symbolizes Holden’s relationship with Phoebe.

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Holden is constantly interested in the ducks in the book. Holden is always trying to find out where the ducks are going. The ducks symbolize Holden’s future and how he doesn’t know what to do. Holden thinks if he can find out where the ducks are going he can figure out his future.

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Allie’s baseball mitt had many poems written in it, and Holden likes to read them and look at them. The mitt is very special to Holden, and symbolizes his time with Allie and how he misses Allie.

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Holden always isolates himself from others and almost purposely pushes others away. He can’t relate to many other people his age, and thinks he is better than most people his age. Holden doesn’t really like the isolation, but keeps putting himself in the situation.

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Holden goes through many traumatizing things throughout the book, and even before the book.  This has caused him to lose his innocence early on.  Holden wants to be able to look at the world with the innocence he used to have.  That’s why he keeps looking back to the past memories of himself throughout the book.  He also keeps trying to talk to people from his past. This also explains why Holden wants to protect kids because he wants them to keep their innocence because he wishes he still had it.

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When Holden picked out the record for Phoebe, he showed how much it meant to him by how much he paid for it along with how much he thought about it. When the record broke, it seemed to shatter part of Holden with it. For Holden, it was like seeing his sanity broken because the one thing he cared about that he had was now broken.

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The snowball Holden makes when leaving Pencey shows how Holden can get attached to small, insignificant things and lose sight of the bigger picture. Him attaching to the snowball shows us why he can get overly obsessive over little things instead of facing the bigger issue, which was what to do after leaving Pencey.

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The glass box in the museum symbolizes how Holden does not want the world to change. He does not want to become an adult, and wants to hold onto the past as much as possible.

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To Holden, Allie's mitt represents all of the memories Holden had with Allie. It brings him back to his late brother, and symbolizes how much Allie meant to Holden.

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The baseball mitt that Allie had all of his poems on is the only true memory of Allie left. Allie loved poems and it was integral to his personality,  and I feel that Holden hasn’t necessarily found his “Baseball Mitt” yet and doesn’t know where his passions truly lie.

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The ducks in the pond symbolize how Holden does not know where he should go in life. He does not know where the ducks will go just like he doesn't know where he will go when he journeys fully to adulthood.

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Whenever Holden is bored, hungry, or not in the moment he smokes a cigarette. It could possibly be that he is an addict but I also see it as a type of coping mechanism to occupy his mind when he’s in an unusual position.

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The ducks in the pond symbolize how Holden doesn’t know where he wants to go in life. He figures that if the ducks know what they should Do when the time comes then when the right time comes for him he should also know where he should go.

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At the end of the book when Pheobe brought her suitcase to the museum it symbolized how badly she wanted to be with Holden. She definitely loved Holden and wasn’t fully comfortable with the thought of not seeing him again.

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Holden had spent so much time trying to find that record for pheobe because he thought she would really appreciate it. I believe when the record broke his heart also shattered because that record meant as much to him as it would have for pheobe.

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Theme 2: How Depression Can Turn Into Insanity

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Theme 2: How Depression Can Turn Into Insanity

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We can see Holden slowly becoming more and more depressed and the best example of this is when he met up with sally. He started saying weird things to her about the future when they weren’t even technically dating yet. His mind was so far gone that it couldn’t even stop his thoughts from flowing out which showed us how his depression was truly affecting him.

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Throughout the book we see how Holden wishes that he was young and innocent like Pheobe. He sees how happy and blissful she lives her life and wishes he could go back to a time where he could live an innocent life like her.

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Holden experiences serious trauma at a very young age with the death of his brother. This event changed his perspective on his youth because it lead Holden to a deeper awareness of the pain and suffering in the world. Holden longs to return to his past self but faces the reality that he has to leave his youth behind in order to mature.

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Holden fears how people may or may not view the real him. He traps the idea of ever finding out by separating himself completely from the world. This isolation is a type of coping mechanism that he is using to protect himself from reality.

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The glass box at the museum symbolizes Holden’s unchanging past. Holden returns to the museum that never changes, and he wishes he would never have changed. Holden correlates the glass box at the museum with his youth which is the world he longs he could return back to.

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Holden throws away what is to be almost the last of his money. He is slipping into a deeper and darker depression at this time which causes him to make irrational decisions. The action of Holden throwing away the coins can represent him throwing away his life.

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Holden’s longing obsession over the ducks in the pond symbolize freedom. Holden dreams of being able to control his own life independently, so he connects himself to the ducks ability to be on the move as they wish. Holden may also connect to the ducks because they have to adapt to new environments rapidly just how Holden is forcing himself to explore different places outside of Pencey.

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The Catcher in the Rye itself symbolizes Holden’s love for children. As he catches the children from falling off of the cliff at the end of the rye field, he would be protecting the children from losing their innocence and learning about reality just as he did.

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Holden’s snowball that he chooses not to throw away represents purity. He views the snowball as an object filled with serenity. Holden does not want to disrupt the calmness in the snowball which could remind him of his youth because he does not want to destroy something that is deemed so pure to him.

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Holden failing out of many schools is an important symbol because it shows how Holden was careless and not hardworking. Holden did not get mad that he was getting kicked out of schools because he just thought that he could just go to a new one. This mindset sets up Holden to never be able to evolve in life because he is just stuck in a loop that is not getting him anywhere in life.

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As the book goes on, we see how Holden's mental health gets worse and worse. It changes what he does and how he reacts to certain things, and it also makes him attached to certain things, turning them into symbols bigger than the physical object. Holden's lack of mental health shapes the way he sees the world and affects the people he is closest to.

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The carousel that Phoebe rides symbolizes the continuity of life. The children, who were determined to grab the gold ring despite the possibility of falling off of the horse, represent risk-taking, and if these children fall, they prove how life will go on even if you make a wrong decision that has negative ramifications.

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Holden’s red hunting hat represents his individuality. The hat holds a uniqueness to it that comforts Holden because he is different too. He wears his hat in isolation when he feels secure, but hides away from ever knowing if people will accept him for his true self.

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Money is an important symbol in the novel because Holden did not use it in a very smart or thoughtful way. Money shows how Holden does not think through what he does because he would just spend money and never think that he would run out or something would go wrong. Holden also did not earn any of the money that he spent, it was all gifted to him so he did not realize how people worked very hard for that money and then he just spent it carelessly.

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Holden is so depressed that he stopped caring and thinking about what his future holds. He flunks school, goes out to drink and smoke, and doesn’t have good relationships with people. Almost every person Holden talks to in the book tries to tell Holden to get his life together, but regardless he continues down his rabbit hole of depression.

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The red hunting hat is an important symbol because Holden buys it early in the book for 1 dollar and keeps it with him until he gives it to his sister Phoebe. When Holden would put on the hunting hat it would almost make him feel like a different person that can do anything. Holden’s hunting hat is comparable to Allie’s baseball glove because it was a symbol that represented who he is and he gave it away to his family.

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Holden was so scared of succeeding and moving on in life that he purposely did not apply himself to his classes. Holden convinced himself he doesn’t belong anywhere in society because he is so scared of rejection. He doesn’t even try to be himself anymore, he only hides his true personality from other people.

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Cigarettes are a major symbol because Holden smokes whenever he is stressed or worried. Holden smoked an unhealthy amount of cigarettes and he did not eat enough which made him feel sick later in the novel. Cigarettes also are one thing that Holden kept with him throughout the whole book.

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Holden mentions the ducks in Central Park quite frequently throughout the book, and he is completely captivated by the question of how the ducks survive winter. Holden is obsessed with this question because he feels that if he figures out how the ducks survive the cold winter, then he will know how to survive his own cold winter, his depression. So, the ducks symbolize Holdens desire to no longer be depressed.

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Theme 2- The Significance of Family and Friends

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Theme 2- The Significance of Family and Friends

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Family and Friends are an important theme in the novel because Holden always remembers about his family but he does not have many close friends. Holden lacks friends because he doesn’t trust anybody besides himself and he calls everyone else phonies. Holden remembers his family because he actually has good memories with them unlike his friends. Holden always remembers his family but sometimes when he thinks about him brother that he lost he becomes more sad and depressed.

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The broken record signifies Holden’s emotions. Holden feels broken and depressed inside, and no longer knows how to be happy.

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Allie’s baseball mitt signifies Holden’s loss of innocence, as it reminds Holden of a time when Allie was still alive, and Holden was happy. This time completely contrasts with Holden’s current position, and shows how after Allie died, Holden lost his innocence and had a distinct change in his outlook on life.

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Depression and Isolation are significant themes in The Catcher in the Rye because Holden is in the state of depression and instead of reaching out for help he isolates himself from others. Isolation is also an important theme because Holden does not feel safe with other people so he just spends time alone which makes him in a even worse spot mentally.  Depression shows in Holden when he tries to put others down in order for him to feel better about himself.

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A big question Holden is trying to figure out the answer to in the book is where he will go and what he will do after he is finished with school. He does not have any idea where he fits into society, and it is messing with his brain and focus. He is between a child and an adult, the age most people start to know what they want to do in the future, but Holden can't find his place.

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Pencey prep signifies Holden’s clouded judgement, as despite the fact that failing out would have great consequences for him, he did so anyway. This shows that his depression prevented him from caring about what happened to him in the future, as if he did care he would not have failed out of school.

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The baseball glove symbolizes Holden’s intense love for his dead brother and his reluctance to move on with life. He takes the glove with him to school and he only passes English class because that was his brother’s favorite subject.

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The coins represent Holden’s poor decision making throughout the book. This is because in the book, it is clear that Holden is getting low on money, and yet he decides to skip the little he has left over a pond.

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The hunting hat represents Holden’s true personality. Throughout the book Holden lies to strangers about who he really is and just like he hides his personality, he doesn’t wear his hate around many people

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After Allie, Holden’s brother, died, Holden’s eyes were opened to the cruelty of the world. This eye opening event caused Holden to lose his innocence, and made him angry at the world for the pain it had caused him.

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The ducks that Holden admires in the Central Park pond symbolize freedom. Holden constantly ponders where the aforementioned ducks go, which represents Holden’s need for escape from reality, so it can be inferred that he wishes to be like the ducks and get a chance to leave home but still come back after time to an unchanged world.

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The record symbolizes Holden’s carelessness. He buys the record, thinking that it would be a perfect gift for Phoebe, and then he drops it before he can give it to her.

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Holden also stopped in at a record store while waiting on Sally. He bought Phoebe a record called “Little Shirley Beans”. He was going to bring it to Phoebe, but he dropped it and it broke, but Phoebe still wanted it. The broken record symbolizes his childhood and his special bond with Phoebe.

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While waiting to go on a date with Sally, Holden walks around the Museum of Natural History. He stops at looks at the glass box. He loves the glass box because it never changes, only you change. The glass case can symbolize his past with Phoebe, D.B., Allie, and his childhood memories.

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Holden has a red hunting hat that he keeps with him and serves a special purpose to him. Holden only wears his hat when he is alone and feels comfortable around others. The red hunting hat symbolizes his personality and his past.

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Holden consistently wonders and questions where the ducks go in the pond when it gets cold. He asks multiple cab drivers and he cannot find out the answer. The ducks symbolize his future, he does not know where the ducks are going, and he does not know where he is going either.

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Holden’s brother, Allie, who died of leukemia gave Holden his baseball glove. The glove had poems written all over it, and Holden kept it with him everywhere he went. The glove symbolizes the time spent with his brother and his love for Allie.

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Theme: Depression clouds judgement and causes reckless behavior

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Theme: Depression clouds judgement and causes reckless behavior

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Throughout the novel, Holden continuously makes poor decisions and gets himself in trouble. He makes these decisions because his depression clouds his better judgement, and causes him to be unable to see the consequences of these decisions. Some examples of bad decisions he made are failing out of school, throwing money into a pond and hiring a prostitute.

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Holden realizes that he has lost his innocence throughout the book, especially when talking to Phoebe at the carousel. Holden misses his family and his childhood.

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Theme #1- Do Not Let Others Change Who You Are

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Theme #1- Do Not Let Others Change Who You Are

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Be yourself, and not let others change who you are on the outside and in the inside. Holden attending different schools and meeting new people lead him to act as a new person.

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The ducks in Central Park represent a place for Holden to belong. Holden spends most of the book wandering around New York and he never learns where the ducks stay in the winter.

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The glass box from the museum symbolizes life’s moments that are memorable and are so nostalgic that they should be kept on display to be frozen in time. Holden wants to never change, to let his life stay innocent and consistent forever, because then he would never need to grow up and become the very same person that he dreads in the future.

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Holden interacted with many others in his journey through the novel, but resorted to being alone most times. He felt empty deep down because he was afraid to make connections with new people because of his losses, like his brother Allie. His loneliness that was created from these took a toll on him and his mental health to the point of loosing his mind

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The glass box from the museum symbolizes Holden’s fear of change. Holden especially doesn’t want his memories of Allie or Phoebe to change, even though Phoebe will grow up

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I think that “The Catcher in the Rye” gives Holden the impression of something somewhat wholesome, which is how he feels at the start of the book. But as we go on, Holden finds out the truth of the Catcher, who is really evil and mad. We can relate this to Holdens own descent into madness as we progress thorough the book.

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Theme: The struggle of the Phony adult world

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Theme: The struggle of the Phony adult world

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Holden foreshadows the phoniness of the world after childhood. Unfortunately, he was shown the fake interests of adults, mainly his parents, from a young age. He tried to hold off growing up because his childhood was a safe space for him and he didnt want to become “Phony”.

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When the weather gets cold and tough, the ducks migrate and leave to find better conditions to live in. Holden wishes he could do this and have an adventure to find a safe haven for him to live in whenever life gets tough for him. That is why he is always thinking about living in the woods.

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Phoebe gives Holden her money that she is saving up for Christmas because she doesn’t want her brother to be out on the streets with no money. This symbolizes the love that Phoebe has for Holden that other people do not have for him. Phoebe is one of the only people that actually cares about Holden and his well being.

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Allie’s baseball glove symbolizes Holden’s reminiscence of his past with Allie. Holden keeps the gloves under his own close auspices at all times because it represents Allie due to the poetry written in it and the fact that it is left-handed, which is rare and distinctive to Allie.

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Holden wants to go back to his youth and stay there forever like a case in a museum, it does not change. Holden thinks his life is moving too fast for him to enjoy the good parts of his childhood and wants to stay in those good parts.

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Holden cannot seem to keep a friend for too long before he becomes uninterested and critical of their every move. He enjoys being independent besides when he is with his siblings, and although he is aware of how lonely he truly is and how depressed it makes him, he only asked an effort to reach out to old friends on very random occasions. He is completely okay with his loneliness, and this is why it is a perfect theme for him.

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Holden exemplifies his loss of innocence throughout Catcher in the Rye through the carousel symbol and the expletives written on Phoebe’s school’s bathroom walls that result in a livid reaction from him. He loses his innocence as he travels through New York on his own, contemplating life’s mystery and reminiscing on his childhood ‘glass box’ moments.

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A recurring theme in the book is Holden wanting to go back to his youth because he didn’t have any problems back then. He also wants to go back to his youth because he was not depressed back then.

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I think that the hat Holden got symbolizes Holden’s strange side. The hat itself is strange to a lot of people because of the flaps on the side and the fact that it is a “people killing” hat. Holden relates to this hat because people think that he is strange.

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Holden is afraid of showing his true colors to people. In the past every time he does, he gets shut out and excluded.

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Holden is always looking at children hoping they don't grow up so they can stay young and happy forever especially when he looks at phoebe. I think this is due to the death of Allie at such a young age. Holden wants the children of the world and innocent people to stay that way, so they don't have to do deal with the hardships of the world.

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Isolation to protect ones self from others. 

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Isolation to protect ones self from others. 

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Holden doesn’t like anyone that much, and if they get close to him he pushes them away. I think Holden is scared that if he lets people in they will judge him.

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The symbolism of little kids is that holden wishes he could still be one. He watches kids and admires their innocence and their love of life wanting that for himself.

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The glass box Holden sees at the museum symbolizes how he wants things to stay the same. Holden doesn’t want to change or grow up like the glass box doesn’t change.