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“Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
To be honest this sentence always grabbed my attention as if I had experienced it myself.
The book’s protagonist, Holden is a 17-year-old boy whose life just changed significantly by his brother’s death and his obligations through this time. Holden, struggling with post-trauma, depression and alienation from society had been kicked out of school. While wandering around the New York streets, he tells us how most of the people there are selfish and self-centred. He mostly had a bad attitude towards people and the only humans he loved in this horrible and pointless world were kids. In my perspective this was determined by the fact that he probably thought that kids’ souls were still pure and clean from all the sin in the world. In my solid and well thought-out opinion, Salinger tried to tell us how hard and personally disturbing adulthood is, how confusing the duty that follows man’s growth is and how Holden was struggling against these constructs.
“I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something.”
That’s one of my favourite quotes, because it showed his caring personality. First, I thought it didn’t have such an essential meaning, because everyone will say such a thing if they really care about our fauna and if they have an intensified sense of empathy, but the point is that ducks symbolise childhood and innocence. We can also say it speaks to the uncertainty of the future. Holden didn’t really know where they were going as he didn’t know what life holds in store for him in the future. The duck reminds Holden of himself.
In addition, he was suffering from the pain of his brother’s death. They were soul mates. When we are reading the words where Holden tries to describe his brother, we perceive their relationship as healthy and benevolent. Now imagine how a child feels after losing someone so important in their life. Indeed, the child will be devastated and desperate. That’s the reason why I don’t really try to judge Holden too harshly for his behaviour against people around him.
“I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.”
This is so accurate, when I’m trying to express my feelings, I always feel like something is missing.
Author: Tsisi Kokolashvili
