English I: - PowerPoint Presentation

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English I:

Spring 2013

The Catcher in the Rye

Themes, Motifs, SymbolsSlide2

Theme: Alienation as a Form of Self-Protection

Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him.As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he does not belong.As the novel progresses, we begin to see that Holden’s alienation is a way of protecting himself. Slide3

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Just as he wears his hunting hat to express his uniqueness, he uses his isolation to prove that he is better than everyone else, and therefore, above interacting with them. Interactions with others confuse and overwhelm him, and his cynical sense of superiority serves as a type of self-protection. Holden’s alienation is the source of what little stability he has in his life and also the source of most of his pain.Needs contact and love, but his own bitterness prevents him from seeking it out.Slide4

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Source of Holden’s strength and the source of his problemsLongs for the type of connection that he had with Jane Gallagher, but fear prevents him from contacting her.He depends upon his alienation, but it destroys him. Slide5

Theme: Coming of Age

Holden resists maturity itselfHolden fears change and complexity (Natural History Museum)—wants everything to be easily understandable and eternally fixed like the statues of Eskimos and Indians at the museumIs guilty of the sins that he criticizes other for. Fears his inability to understand the world around him. Refuses to acknowledge his fears, except in a few instances (Chapter 9—sex)Slide6

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Adult world=superficiality, hypocrisy, “phoniness” Child world=innocence, curiosity, honestyFantasy about The Catcher in the Rye: he imagines childhood as a big field of rye in which children romp and play; adulthood, for the children of this world, is equivalent to death—a fatal fall over the edge of a cliffCovers himself with cynicism to avoid both worldsShallow conceptionsSlide7

Theme: The Phoniness of the Adult World

Holden’s catch-all for the superficiality, hypocricy, and shallowness that he encounters in the world around him.Chapter 22—all adults are inevitably phonies, but worse, they don’t see their own phoniness. Phoniness=everything that is wrong with the world and gives him an excuse to hide behind his cynicismHolden’s observations are not entirely inaccurateHolden can be a highly insightful characterSlide8

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Holden never understands his own phoniness because he is so focused on othersThe world is not has simple (and black and white) as Holden wants or needs it to be. Slide9

Motifs

Definitions: recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themesSlide10

Motif: Loneliness

Manic quest for companionship—flits from one relationship to anotherHolden doesn’t understand his own mind or why he behaviors/feels the way he doesHolden messes up his own attempts at ending his loneliness because he wants to preserve his isolation to avoid getting hurtLoneliness is the emotional proof of the alienation that Holden experiences; it is both a source of great pain and a source of his securitySlide11

Motif: Relationships, Intimacy, and Sexuality

What he fears most about the adult world: complexity, unpredictability, and the potential for conflict and changeHolden projects his own idealizations about childhood on to PhoebeHolden fears intimacy and sexuality because he in unwilling to let people get close to himHolden continues to desperately search for relationships, but breaking them down at the last momentSlide12

Motif: Lying and Deception

Holden is most critical of those who do not recognize their own weaknesses Lying=phoniness; indicates insensitivity, carelessness, or even crueltyHis random and repeated lying indicates his own self-deception. Does not recognize his own shortcomings and does not acknowledge how his actions affect othersGuilty of the same phoniness that he accuses others ofSlide13

Symbol: The Hunting Hat

Uniqueness and IndividualityHolden desires to be different from everyone around himSelf-conscious of the hatPresence of the hat mirrors the central conflict in the novel: Holden’s needs for isolation versus his need for companionshipRed hat—Allie and Phoebe both have red hair (coincidence?)—A means of connecting? Slide14

Symbol: The Museum of Natural History

Displays appeal to Holden because they are frozen and unchangingTroubled by the fact that he has changed each time he visits the museumA world he wishes he could live inTerrified by unpredictable nature of the world, scared of change, does not understand the senseless death of Allie, and fear interaction with othersSlide15

Symbol: The Ducks in the Central Park Lagoon

Reveals a genuine and youthful side to his characterCuriosity of youthMysterious survival in the face of a difficult environment (parallels Holden’s own situation)Ducks prove that some vanishings are only temporary (Holden’s fear of change)—change that isn’t permanent would be more bearable (Allie’s death is permanent)“partly frozen, partly not frozen” (transition) Holden is between childhood and adulthoodSlide16

Symbol: Radio City Music Hall

Rockettes and war memorial movieInauthentic (phony) art that panders to the audienceHolden is left cold by the performanceAudience is manipulated by the sentimental glorification of war and military—Holden hates thisSlide17

Symbol: The Carrousel’s Golden Ring

A hope, a dream, the chances we must take to grab the gold ringIt is hard for Holden to understand the concept that children will reach for the ring and adults must let themA part of life and part of growing upSlide18

Symbol: Allie’s Baseball Mitt

Holden’s love for Allie and his uniquenessLeft-handedPoems in green inkA fielder’s glove, not a catcher’s mitt? Slide19

Symbol: Pencey Prep and Elkton Hills

Phony and cruel worldSchool pictures and mottos are misleadingStradlater—wants Holden to cheat, yet Holden is being expelled for failing coursesCruelty Holden has seen at the prep schoolsHolden dislikes the exclusivity and the prejudiceJames Castle’s suicide at Elkton Hills2 schools are emblematic of the corrupt system of privileged adults designed for those who want to join their ranksHolden struggles against a system in which he was born