Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Catcher in the Rye Symbol: Ducks

by: Sammi Hoffman, Renee Helling, Nicki Pacha, and Robert Goldsmith

"'Do you happen to know where they go, the ducks...?' I realized it was only one change in a million." (pg 60)

"I was wondering where the ducks went... I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away." (pg 13)

"...it was partly frozen and partly not frozen. But i didn't see any ducks around." (pg 154)

  • Holden's constant questioning of the ducks reveals his uncertainty with change, the ducks moving to a new environment and his shift from child to adult.
  • By stating that there is "one chance in a million" that the taxi driver knows where the ducks went, he is saying that there is a very slight chance that anyone knows how Holden should be changing.
  • The description of the lake, "partly frozen and partly not frozen", relates to Holden's current flux between childhood and adulthood.
  • The absence of ducks in the pond relates to the absence of people in Holden's life. The return of the ducks to the pond after every winter gives Holden hope that people will start to come into his life.
  • Salinger demonstrates Holden's child-like traits through his questioning of details that most adults wouldn't care to question or notice.
  • By using the absurd hypothetical situation of a man taking the ducks "in a truck" to a "zoo or something", Salinger relates Holden's innocent wonder and outlook on the world around him.
  • Holden wonders if the ducks "flew away" paralleling the way that his child-like personality, while still there at the moment, will someday leave like the ducks

Significance

"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. That's how I nearly fell in." (pg 154)

Salinger utilized ducks in the novel to convey the themes of childhood innocence, the difficulty of transitioning to adulthood, and loneliness. The pond in which the ducks lived metaphorically displayed Salinger's view on life. Holden's struggle to find the ducks, and his resistance to growing up depict Salinger's hatred for the loss of innocence that becoming an adult entails.

  • The repetition of variations of the word near describes the close-call Holden has with adulthood .
  • By nearly falling into the water (adulthood) while searching for the ducks (his childhood) Salinger depicts the paradoxical relationship between the two: by looking too hard for his childhood, Holden almost becomes an adult.
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi