Catcher In The Rye Symbolism

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In the Catcher in the Rye, Salinger uses imagery and symbolism to show Holden’s movement from a naive, immature and idealistic teenager to a more experienced and mature adult. By looking at specific symbols such as; the snowball incident, meeting with Mr. Antolini, and sitting on the bench at the carousel, Holden’s journey to adulthood and attitude change is shown. In the beginning of the novel Holden comes across a snowball fight while on his way to school. Holden attempts to be apart of the group of boys playing but once he makes a snowball he realizes he cannot throw it. He says, “I couldn’t throw it at anything because it all looked so nice and white” ( ). This explains how by throwing the snowball Holden would be going against his

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