The Image Montage

The Boy In The Red Hat
This painting represents the symbol known as Holden's red hunting hat. His hat symbolizes his individuality. Like the hat, Holden is different and unique. The hat also resembels Holden's self conflict. He is not sure of who he is. This trait of Holden is shown when he chooses not to wear the hat around people he feels may judge him. He shows this when he says, "I took my old hunting hat out of my pocket while I walked, and put it on. I knew I wouldn't meet anyone who knew me." (122). In this quote Holden shows he is only willing to wear the hat when he knows he will not run into someone he knows. Because the red hat is such an important symbol for Holden's individuality and insecurity, I chose to include a painting representing it in the image montage.



The Museum of Natural History
This photograph represents Holden's feelings on art from The Museum of Natural History. The art in the museum represents Holden's idea of never growing up. Holden is afraid of change and maturity. He fears the fact that every time he visits the art, he has changed. He likes the art because it is never changing and it will never show signs of growing older. He says, "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you." (118). Since the Museum of Natural History is representative of Holden's fear of growing old, an important theme in Salinger's Catcher In The Rye , I decided it is necessary to include a photograph of The Museum of Natural History.



The Ducks
This photo collage of ducks represents the ducks in central park. The ducks in central park symbolize Holden's childlike innocence. When Holden is speaking of the ducks, he seams to be happier and more carefree. Holden tends to focus a lot on the ducks in central park. For instance he says, “I live in New York, and 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 duck go” (13). The ducks also symbolize change in Holden's life. Holden is afraid of change and the fact that the ducks migrate but always return represent that things will leave but in some way will always return.