The Catcher in the Rye

“The Catcher In The Rye”

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an idealist. Holden cares more for the well being of others that he cares for himself. This is shown to us in many ways, one of which is when Holden asks the cab driver in Manhattan about where the ducks go in the winter time. The way people react to Holden’s questions allows us to see that Holden is growing up in a world that only cares about themselves and not the entire picture.

Holden asks Horowitz, the cab driver, and others about the ducks in the Central Park lake a number of times throughout the novel.

Well, you know the ducks that swim around in it? In the

springtime and all? Do you happen to know where they go

in the wintertime by any chance? … I mean, does someone

come around in a truck or something and take them away,

or do they fly away by themselves and go south or

something (Salinger 81,82)?

Holden wants to know whether someone will help the ducks to find a warmer, more peaceful place in the winter time, or if they will just have to go at it alone. This is exactly what one of Holden’s questions about his life is about. Holden is going through his rough and turbulent teenage years. He wonders if anyone will guide him through and help him get out of it, or if he will be like the ducks and have to fend for himself.

Holden asks another cabbie earlier in the story, “those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South”(60). Holden most likely knows that the ducks fly south for the winter but he wants to reassure himself that some one will come and take the ducks away. Horowitz responds