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15 Aug 2019 
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The Mockingjay, the three colored tablets, and the lightning scar are all examples of famous symbols that hold a deeper meaning within books. Each of them is important to both the story’s meaning and the story’s plot, but none of them are as important to its book as one book’s main character is to its book—Holden Caulfield. He may be one of the most important symbols of his time. Holden Caulfield, himself, is a very important symbol in the novel. Throughout the book, he changes and portrays every action of young adults his age. Although others may argue he merely represents a typical teenager based off of his childish actions, Holden is a symbol which represents the transition between adolescence and adulthood. He symbolizes a growing child’s uncertainty. Exempli gratia, he attempts to convince Sally to run away with him in hopes of escaping society and the phonies of the world, perturbs the girl from the Lavender Room into dancing with him because of the hormones running through his veins, and reads Phoebe’s journal out of curiosity. However, he also makes the adult decision to not let Phoebe join him in his excursion at the end of the novel, to abandon his plan of staying at the Antolinis’ house when Mr. Antolini began to act inappropriately, and to refuse to take Phoebe’s “Christmas dough.” He makes both childish and mature choices, but in the end, the mature ones weigh out the childish ones.
Holden attempts to convince Sally to run away with him in hopes of escaping society and the phonies of the world. Sally showed up late to see the Lunts with Holden. He states that he felt oddly overly-attracted to her, which to him was not normal. After seeing the Lunts, Sally prompted Holden to go with her to ice-skate in Radio City. He agreed, and he acknowledges that she most likely wanted to go only to wear a provocative skirt in his presence, assumably to impress him. He then proposes his current situation, wanting to escape society, to Sally, inviting her to run away. However, he also makes the adult decision to not let Phoebe join him in his excursion at the end of the novel. This shows that he has thought over his decision to run away, and he has considered it a bad idea. “I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought about it,
Holden attempts to convince Sally to run away with him in hopes of escaping society and the phonies of the world. Sally showed up late to see the Lunts with Holden. He states that he felt oddly overly-attracted to her, which to him was not normal. After seeing the Lunts, Sally prompted Holden to go with her to ice-skate in Radio City. He agreed, and he acknowledges that she most likely wanted to go only to wear a provocative skirt in his presence, assumably to impress him. He then proposes his current situation, wanting to escape society, to Sally, inviting her to run away. However, he also makes the adult decision to not let Phoebe join him in his excursion at the end of the novel. This shows that he has thought over his decision to run away, and he has considered it a bad idea. “I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought about it,
and I sort of reached over and took old Sally’s goddamn hand. What a goddamn fool I was,” (171). Although he is making an immature choice, he now realizes his mistake. There are more examples of moments in which he realizes his error. He and Sally argue some more about the topic, and they become sore over it. “I was sorry as hell I started it,” (173). He is now aware of his mistake. He then applies his regret to the situation when Phoebe pleads to leave with him.Phoebe begs to leave with him, yet Holden refuses to let her. “You can’t take anything. Because you’re not going. I’m going alone. So shut up,” (267). Holden has realized his mistake in letting someone else share his plan. Holden learns his lesson here, but that is not the end of the lessons he learns on his journey.
Holden perturbs the girl from the Lavender Room into dancing with him because of the hormones running through his veins, but also makes the adult decision to abandon his plan of staying at the Antolinis’ house when Mr. Antolini begins to act inappropriately. Late in the night, Holden ventures off to a night club in the hotel referred to as the Lavender Room. He comes across a group of girls most likely well over his age, who seem to find his attraction to him amusing. He approaches one girl, later to be identified as Bernice, and dances with her. “‘Would any of you girls care to dance?’ I didn’t ask them crudely or anything. Very suave, in fact. But God damn it, they thought that was in a panic too. They started giggling some more. I’m not kidding, they were three real morons. ‘C’mon,’ I said. ‘I’ll dance with you one at a time. All right? How ‘bout it? C’mon!’ I really felt like dancing.” (91-92). Holden makes a point to get at least one of the girls to dance with him. He even states that he views them as morons, and it is implied that he is only interested in using them for dancing. He makes a poor decision in whether he should take advantage of the girls being there or not. This is most likely because of the emotions resulting from puberty. However, he later makes the correct choice when it comes to a decision based off of this matter when Mr. Antolini approaches him in the night. Holden visits and agrees to stay with the Antolinis. He is lectured by his former teacher on life. He rests on the couch and wakes up to Mr. Antolini petting him. He is stunned. “Boy, I’ll bet I jumped about a thousand feet,” (249). Even though his hormones and his possible depression could have caused him to give up and stay, he still made the right choice to leave. After leaving, he seems to analyze the situation further. He expresses to the audience his emotions and thoughts about the incident. “Boy, I was shaking like a madman. I was sweating, too. When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it,” (251). He mentions that this sort of thing has happened to him before, to his dismay. Although this is a big step for him, there is still more progress from him.
Holden reads Phoebe’s journal out of curiosity, but he refuses to take Phoebe’s “Christmas dough.” When Holden comes home to Phoebe, he finds her in D.B.’s room and decides to read her notebook. “I opened the one on top and looked at the first page… I sat there on D.B.’s desk and read the whole notebook,” (208-209). Even though it is already somewhat an invasion of privacy to walk in and stay in the same room where someone is sleeping, since they cannot give consent, Holden crosses the line once again by invading her privacy by reading one of her notebooks. It may seem as if there’s no coming back from this invasion, but Holden begins to make up for it. After that, he wakes her, argues with her, and dances with her. Their mother comes in, but he is hidden, and then he makes plans to leave. She offers her “Christmas money” to him for a place to stay and food, but he refuses it. “I didn’t want to take her Christmas dough, ‘You want some?’ she said. ‘I don’t want to take your Christmas dough.’”
Holden perturbs the girl from the Lavender Room into dancing with him because of the hormones running through his veins, but also makes the adult decision to abandon his plan of staying at the Antolinis’ house when Mr. Antolini begins to act inappropriately. Late in the night, Holden ventures off to a night club in the hotel referred to as the Lavender Room. He comes across a group of girls most likely well over his age, who seem to find his attraction to him amusing. He approaches one girl, later to be identified as Bernice, and dances with her. “‘Would any of you girls care to dance?’ I didn’t ask them crudely or anything. Very suave, in fact. But God damn it, they thought that was in a panic too. They started giggling some more. I’m not kidding, they were three real morons. ‘C’mon,’ I said. ‘I’ll dance with you one at a time. All right? How ‘bout it? C’mon!’ I really felt like dancing.” (91-92). Holden makes a point to get at least one of the girls to dance with him. He even states that he views them as morons, and it is implied that he is only interested in using them for dancing. He makes a poor decision in whether he should take advantage of the girls being there or not. This is most likely because of the emotions resulting from puberty. However, he later makes the correct choice when it comes to a decision based off of this matter when Mr. Antolini approaches him in the night. Holden visits and agrees to stay with the Antolinis. He is lectured by his former teacher on life. He rests on the couch and wakes up to Mr. Antolini petting him. He is stunned. “Boy, I’ll bet I jumped about a thousand feet,” (249). Even though his hormones and his possible depression could have caused him to give up and stay, he still made the right choice to leave. After leaving, he seems to analyze the situation further. He expresses to the audience his emotions and thoughts about the incident. “Boy, I was shaking like a madman. I was sweating, too. When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it,” (251). He mentions that this sort of thing has happened to him before, to his dismay. Although this is a big step for him, there is still more progress from him.
Holden reads Phoebe’s journal out of curiosity, but he refuses to take Phoebe’s “Christmas dough.” When Holden comes home to Phoebe, he finds her in D.B.’s room and decides to read her notebook. “I opened the one on top and looked at the first page… I sat there on D.B.’s desk and read the whole notebook,” (208-209). Even though it is already somewhat an invasion of privacy to walk in and stay in the same room where someone is sleeping, since they cannot give consent, Holden crosses the line once again by invading her privacy by reading one of her notebooks. It may seem as if there’s no coming back from this invasion, but Holden begins to make up for it. After that, he wakes her, argues with her, and dances with her. Their mother comes in, but he is hidden, and then he makes plans to leave. She offers her “Christmas money” to him for a place to stay and food, but he refuses it. “I didn’t want to take her Christmas dough, ‘You want some?’ she said. ‘I don’t want to take your Christmas dough.’”