Ensayo Sobre Fragmentos Del Libro The Catcher In The Rye

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a classic novel in English literature that portrays an adolescent’s reluctance to grow. Considered a bildungsroman, due to the maturity phase that Holden Caulfield transits throughout the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” presents the fear to changes as an important theme. In various instances in the novel we see Holden’s unwillingness to accept changes and also, howthis affect’s his view of life, and his life itself.
The extract that I’m going to talk about belongs to chapter 12 in which Holden, after taking a cab to go to a nightclub, he suddenly becomes intrigued by some ducks in a pond in Central Park. This scene, which may look like a detail is an important symbol which scrutinizes Holden’s concerns on change and it is also presented in several instancesthroughout the novel.
The first thing that I would like to mention about this extract is Holden’s personality. It is not rare to find Holden wondering about this type of things. In the passage Holden is eager to know what happens to ducks and fish in winter. The meaning of this scene is not only showing Holden’s childish personality by being curious about the ducks. The taxidriver’s reaction inline 4: “where who goes?” to emphasize that he didn’t expect that question from an adolescent but rather from a 7 year old. In my respect, winter could be considered as a barrier or an obstacle ducks and fish have to deal with once a year. Holden is concerned on how does these animals adapt to the changes they face as we see in lines 5, 6 and 7: “…does somebody come around in a trick or somethingand take them away or do they fly away by themselves…” or when referring to the fish in lines 27 and 28: “What do they do, the fish and all, when that whole little lake’s a solid block of ice”. In Holden’s eyes, these animals seem not to bother when facing this changes and go through them so naturally.
Throughout the novel, Holden confronts many changes: the death of his brother Allie and oneof his friends, and also a change that occurs within himself: growing up. Although at a first glance it may appear that there is no relation between the ducks in the pond and Holden’s fear to change, as we look closer to what the changes the ducks face and what they represent, we readers understand Holden’s apprehension more deeply. As I said before, the duck in Central Park leave the pond onwinter as it says on lines 2 and 3: “do you happen to know…”, but they return, eventually. Holden’s interest in this type of “cyclical” changes is not what he rejects, but rather immutable changes such as death and growth that scare him. Central park serves for Holden as a refuge because by knowing that not all changes are permanent he manages to appease his emotions in respect to change. We cantherefore say that Holden’s unwillingness or fear to accept permanent changes is based on what he experiences throughout his life. It appears as if he does not quite understand why these things happen and why these changes aren’t cyclical, such as the duck’s migration in wintertime.
This theme about Holden’s fear to permanent change is present not only in this extract but rather throughout the wholenovel. As I said in the beginning, this issue Holden deals with affects his view of life and his own life as well. Holden is marked by his brother’s death which evidently mystifies him in the sense that he does not understand why this happened. The fact that his brother died young, with 11 years old, allows Holden to idolize Allie from being honest and uncorrupted by adults, to whom he attributesthe cause of his fear for growing up. As Holden develops his sentiments towards growing up, although not made explicit, he loses people to trust things to, as they are either adults or are looking forward to it, and therefore he alienates himself. Along “The Catcher in the Rye” Holden’s loneliness drives him in seek for companionship, but his fear of accepting growing up, makes him adopt a...