1. The Ducks in the Central Park Lagoon
1.1. This symbol reveals Holden's youthful side.
1.2. The frozen part of the pond symbolizes the inhospitable world and the unfrozen part symbolizes Holden's youthful and immature thoughts and dreams.
1.3. “partly frozen and partly not frozen.” stage of the pond reflects Holden's stage in his growth.
1.4. The ducks symbolizes Holden's fear of change.
1.5. Quotes
1.5.1. "I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something."
1.5.2. “You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?”
1.5.3. "He was a much better guy than the other driver I’d had. Anyway, I thought maybe he might know about the ducks. . . . [“]Do you know, by any chance? I mean does somebody come around in a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves—go south or something?”
1.5.4. "I figured I’d go by that little lake and see what the hell the ducks were doing, see if they were around or not. I still didn’t know if they were around or not. It wasn’t far over to the park, and I didn’t have any place else special to go to—I didn’t even know where I was going to sleep yet—so I went. I wasn’t tired or anything. I just felt blue as hell.
1.5.5. "Then, finally, I found it. What it was, it was partly frozen and partly not frozen. But I didn’t see any ducks around. I walked all around the whole damn lake—I damn near fell in once, in fact—but I didn’t see a single duck. I thought maybe if there were any around, they might be asleep or something near the edge of the water, near the grass and all.
2. The Carrousel
2.1. The carrousel symbolizes youth and innocence.
2.2. Reaching for the golden ring, is symbolic of growing up.
2.3. The fact that the carrousel "go(es) around and around" illustrates the non-linear circular time which Holden desires for
2.3.1. Infinite and mutable time, and fear of change
2.4. Quotes
2.4.1. "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them."
2.4.2. "That's the nice things about the carrousel, they always play the same songs."
2.4.3. "Then the carrousel started, and I watched her go around and around. There were only about five or six other kids on the ride, and the song the carrousel was playing was "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." It was playing it very jazzy and funny. All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them."
2.4.4. I felt so damn happy all of sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could've been there.
3. The Red Hunting Hat
3.1. It is a symbol of Holden's uniqueness and individuality.
3.2. With this symbol Salinger mirrors one of the main themes in the novel, which is isolation.
3.3. This hat provides Holden some sort of security and protection from the adult world.
3.4. Quotes
3.4.1. "I put on this hat that I’d bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I’d lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I’ll admit, but I liked it that way."
3.4.2. “Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake,” he said. “That’s a deer shooting hat.” . . . “Like hell it is.” I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. “This is a people shooting hat,” I said. “I shoot people in this hat.”
3.4.3. "I couldn’t find my goddam hunting hat anywhere. Finally I found it. It was under the bed. I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror. You never saw such gore in your life."
3.4.4. "We got to the Edmont Hotel, and I checked in. I’d put on my red hunting cap when I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I checked in. I didn’t want to look like a screwball or something. Which is really ironic."
3.4.5. "Then what she did—it damn near killed me—she reached in my coat pocket and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head. “Don’t you want it?” I said. “You can wear it awhile.”"
4. The Natural History Museum
4.1. This Natural History Museum symbolizes Holden's desire for mutable time and fear of change.
4.2. The fact that Holden can find comfort in the museum, gives an idea to the reader that Holden can feel safe and calm in unchanging and still environment.
4.2.1. Because Holden is afraid of change and death, he cannot get over Allie's death, and he is haunted by it.
4.3. Quotes
4.3.1. "Even though it was Sunday and Phoebe wouldn’t be there with her class or anything, and even though it was so damp and lousy out, I walked all the way through the park over to the Museum of Natural History. I knew that was the museum the kid with the skate key meant. I knew that whole museum routine like a book. Phoebe went to the same school I went to when I was a kid, and we used to go there all the time."
4.3.2. "I get very happy when I think about it. Even now. I remember after we looked at all the Indian stuff, usually we went to see some movie in this big auditorium. . . . Nobody gave too much of a damn about old Columbus, but you always had a lot of candy and gum and stuff with you, and the inside of that auditorium had such a nice smell. It always smelled like it was raining outside, even if it wasn’t, and you were in the only nice, dry, cosy place in the world.
4.3.3. "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket."
4.3.4. "Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you’d be so much older or anything. It wouldn’t be that, exactly. You’d just be different, that’s all."
4.3.5. "I kept walking and walking, and I kept thinking about old Phoebe going to that museum on Saturdays the way I used to. I thought how she’d see the same stuff I used to see, and how she’d be different every time she saw it. It didn’t exactly depress me to think about it, but it didn’t make me feel gay as hell, either. Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone."
5. "The Catcher in the Rye"
5.1. Holden mishears the lyrics of Robert Burns song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.”
5.2. Whit this symbol, Holden's fantasy of being "the catcher in the rye" is revealed, meaning that he wants to be the protector and preserver of innocence and childhood by protecting children from entering the adult world.
5.3. This symbol represents Holden's obsession with innocence and purity.
5.4. Quotes
5.4.1. "The kid was swell. He was walking in the street, instead of on the sidewalk, but right next to the curb. He was making out like he was walking a very straight line, the way kids do, and the whole time he kept singing and humming. I got up closer so I could hear what he was singing. He was singing that song, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.”
5.4.2. "He had a pretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb and singing, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more."
5.4.3. "I wasn’t listening, though. I was thinking about something else—something crazy. “You know what I’d like to be?” I said. “You know what I’d like to be? I mean if I had my goddam choice? . . . You know that song ‘If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye’?”
5.4.4. "It’s ‘If a body meet a body coming through the rye’!” old Phoebe said. “It’s a poem. By Robert Burns.” . . . She was right, though. It is “If a body meet a body coming through the rye.” I didn’t know it then, though. . . . “I thought it was ‘If a body catch a body,’”
5.4.5. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”