Narrating and Symbolism - Writers, be your own Catcher in the Rye

Narrating and Symbolism - Writers, be your own Catcher in the Rye

By: Sophia Tsinas

ASSOIATING A POINT OF VIEW TO A NARRATIVE:

Ever wondered why an author chooses to write in a specific way? Why one chooses to use certain words over others? Why symbolism is evoked subtly into the lines of a novel? Are these elements relevant? Do they even matter? I assure you, they do. An author doesn’t just sit down and type up a series of random words to compose a story that lacks imagery, symbolism and practicality. Of course not! Depth, emotion and individualism are what navigate novels and permit the longing of the main character’s personal development. Also, the point of view of a novel is essential to the way the audience can perceive its story and the way it unfolds itself. Depending on who is telling the story, the audience gets insight as to what is happening from different perspectives. For instance, as you may already know (and if you don’t, you should) there are three types of points of view an author can choose to use when writing: the first person point of view, the second person point of view and the third person point of view.

First-person point of view: With this point of view, the author does not participate in the action of the story. Seeing as though everything is recounted through a particular character’s perspective, the readers are limited to certain specifics of the story. Due to the fact that one character cannot know everything about what the characters are thinking/feeling, the audience needs to recognize that not all that is said is the absolute truth. (In order to identify this point of view, the use of the words “I, me, my” and “mine” are what stand out).

Second-person point of view: In this point of view, the narrator talks to the reader and refers to him/her as “you”, making it seem as though he/she is talking directly to them. It is also the least used viewpoint in literature, seeing as though it is hard to describe a particular story when the audience is not a part of it, meanwhile the narrator makes it seem as though he/she is talking about them.

 Third-person (omniscient/all-knowing) point of view: the narrator does not participate in the action of the story, but lets us know what the character is feeling, experiencing. Told through a omnipresent figure, like a supernatural force such as God, the narrator can dip into any character’s mind and reveal things about them, even matters of their past. This point of view is also known as the “all-knowing point of view”, seeing as though the narrator actually knows everything that is inside each character’s mind.

Everyone has a certain writing style, a way to vacate a story in his or her own terms. However, people generally tend to focus more on the content of a story rather than the storyteller. When it comes down to it, the base of a story is the way it is told and the voice it is told through. Everybody has their preferences, their favorites. I for one adore the first-person point of view, because it leaves way for a little mystery, due to the fact that we can’t always trust what the narrator is saying, leaving us to deduct our own conclusions from what is being told. A good example of the use of this point of view would be in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is also the narrator of the novel. Caulfield does a good job of recounting the story through his experiences, his thoughts and his viewpoints on life. He is s a young, depressed adolescent scampering the streets of New York, looking to find a sense of purpose, of belonging. Considering he is depressed and believes that most people surrounding him are fakes, phonies as he puts it, we the readers cannot always believe how he depicts others. He even states throughout the novel, that he has this uncontrollable need to lie, even if it is a tinny fib; he can never truly be straightforward.

Remember that anyone of these points of views can be good and useful when writing. However, you have to make sure to follow the rules and conventions of the appropriate point of view, when it comes down to choosing one. What I mean by that is that if you choose to incorporate the first-person point of view, for instance, than you have to make sure that the narrator uses pronouns such as “I, me, my” or “mine”, this way the reader can be sure of what type of narrator is being used (this way he/she knows if the narrator can be trusted). That’s a good thing to have when you’re an author: being able to fool your audience. If you’re able to write a story where the audience is constantly wondering “Is this real or will there be something lying ahead?” then you’re on the right track.

ATTRIBUTING SYMBOLIC MEANING TO OBJECTS:

Not only is the narrator’s point of view important, but also the incorporation of symbolism is crucial to a novel’s development. Keep that in mind for whenever you decide to jot down ideas. Why is symbolism important, you may ask? Because it challenges one’s perspective of a particular sequence, that’s why. What would a great novel be if the reader weren’t invited to challenge what the author was saying? A novel is never straightforward; you have to dig for the deeper meanings behind things in order to properly understand what is happening. For instance, in Catcher in the Rye, Salinger does a great job of inserting symbolic meanings to ordinary objects, leaving the reader to deduct what that meaning could be. For example, Caulfield possesses a bright red hat, resembling one that a hunter wears when going outdoors. If you aren’t a careful reader, you’ll skim through the pages without noticing its relevancy and you’ll probably think it is solely “a red hat.” However, that hat is a symbol of individualism in Caulfield’s eyes:

“I put on this hat that I’d bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way.” (3.3)

He is insecure about wearing it in public, but wears it anyways because it defines him as his own person and reflects how he sees himself; different, real. This can be associated to the everlasting theme of “not being fake” that courses through the novel. By him wearing this particularly odd hat, he can consider himself to be real and not fake as he believes everyone surrounding him is. See what Salinger did there? He subtly integrated the theme of individualism through the presence of what seems to be “just a red hunting hat.” Read and learn, writers. Take notes!

Salinger also uses the ducks of Central Park as symbolic means to identify change. Now, I know what you’re thinking: can ducks really represent anything other than just ducks? Of course they can, pay attention! In the novel, Caulfield is preoccupied with the ducks and where they are migrating to, seeing as though it is around Christmas time. Where are they off? Why do they leave? This bring forth the feeling of “people always leave” whether you want them to or not. This saddens Caulfield, seeing as though he wants them to stay; he doesn’t want anything to change; he wants sameness. The ducks represent his longing for things to remain the way they are and for people to stay in his life. Even though he is comforted by the fact that their absence is only temporary and that they will return in the spring, he is discouraged by the fact that his deceased brother, Allie, will not return, permanently. If you really want to analyze it to the T, Caulfield’s first name, Holden, sounds like the verb holding if you say it fast enough, which can be associated to holding on, not letting go. Bet you didn’t think you could get all that from ducks, huh?

Finally, one of the most important symbols of the book is the theme of childhood innocence. Now how can one depict innocence through materialist objects? Hope you have your notepads and pens in handy. Although Salinger does a good job of portraying this theme sporadically through the pages of the novel, I’ll state concrete examples of how he portrays a theme as such. At the end of the novel, Holden goes to visit a museum where he reminisces on his childhood visits:

“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move… Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (122)

This quote reflects that Caulfield does not want to change; he does not want to grow up. Now how can a building represent such a thing? How can a physical object represent a psychological belief? That’s the beauty in the novel! He tries to explain that even though the objects inside the museum remain the same, the people who go back to visit it, change. This reflects Caulfield’s wish for kids to remain innocent and to not grow up. He relates sameness to innocence due to the fact that he himself does not want to grow up, because he believes grown-ups are phonies. And in order to avoid becoming a fake, he must remain young forever.

So you’ve got it! If you can properly master the art of integrating a proper narrator point of view while simultaneously applying symbolism to the story, than you’re set to write a proper narrative. The key is to read, read, read and I couldn’t stress it more. By reading, you grasp what other writers have accomplished and what their writing style is like. But remember to always be unique: learn from others and apply I in your free-minded way. Believe in yourself and you’re halfway there!