Catcher in the Rye

Explore symbolism in the novel and how it supports the theme. In Holden’s view, the adult world represents a phony and cruel world. For Holden, the schools, like Pencey Prep and Elkton represents the phony, cruel world of those adult who run them. For example, the advertisement for Pencey Prep are misleading, because the feature that “some hot shot guy on a horse’ has never been seen by Holden at Pencey Prep. Also, the …

…She took them. This implies Phoebe take from him the residuals of his idealism and accepts the burden of “saving the pieces”. Through her mature love, Holden will begin to move towards maturity. It also make Holden realizes that his love of good is stronger than his hatred of evil. All these provides a starting point from which he can learn to accept the world’s imperfection and he can move on to the future.