ducks?

[kranti]

where did the ducks go in winter, huh?

[[deleted user]]

um.......yea, about that. no one rlly TRULY knows where the hell those ducks went in the winter. who knows, maybe Holden made up the stories of the ducks. He did infact say that he was "a terrific lier."......so.....yea, think about that.

[Sue]

I saw the ducks as metaphorical for the children that Holden supposedly wants to save as being the catcher in the rye. And it also was a way for Salinger to expose Holden's extreme sensitivity. A lot of people would hardly notice the ducks, no matter the season, but Holden is ultra-sensitive to the ducks' well being, very
characteristic of him.

Or, since he is a terrific liar, like joe said, perhaps he was lying to us, the readers.

[Kate]

I agree I saw the ducks as a metaphor as well.

[[deleted user]]

wow! both of you are sharp then. i never thought about it that way. now next time i'm reading The Catcher in the Rye(which is always; read that book, like, i dont know, 7 times now?)i'll keep that in mind. thanx for the insight guys:-O


(oops!)i mean gals :-)

[Antje གརས པཅ]

I thick the ducks symbolized himself and how he didn't stay at a school very long, he even left his last one, Pency, in the winter

[Tom]

I think the ducks die or suffer a serious hardship of some sort.
When he asks Horwitz the cab driver about them his response is the the fish stay where they are and live in the ice, he also says if you were mother nature you would take care of them, my interpretation of this is that though he doesn't want them to die, they do.
Holden has a childlike belief that what is right prevails, i.e the ducks do survive (hence his arguments like 'someone comes and takes them away') because they should.

I think that what J.D Salinger is trying to show is Holden's naive and crumbling faith in right and wrong in the world and goodness. Holden is loosing his naive belief. I think that Salinger often uses small questions as these that Holden asks to show the larger questions that Holden is trying to come to terms with. Holden does not ask questions like 'Does right always prevail over wrong?' (sorry that is a pathetic example) but instead his mind grasps at the smaller questions such as the ducks to answer the larger questions.

Wow i have really managed to ramble. I have never studied the book but that is my interpretation.