In The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger uses symbols to give meaning to Holden's journey through New York City and explain the inner turmoil that drives his mental collapse. For example, Salinger uses Holden's preoccupation with ducks to exemplify his resistance to adaptation, especially to his impending adulthood. Throughout the novel, he asks several people where the ducks in Central Park go during the winter. None of them are sure, and this increases Holden's feeling of panic. He wants to be reassured that he will be able to make the transition without becoming as superficial as many of the adults he sees around him, and that he will be fine in the end. However, he is incapable of admitting his need, so few people attempt to help him. After leaving Pencey Prep, he discovers that he has no real connection to the world. For this reason, he turns to everyone he can think of, except the people who can help him. Holden's questions about ducks are posed to two taxi drivers. The first doesn't have an answer, while the second provides more information about why Holden wants to know. The first cab driver was annoyed and asked, “What are you trying to do Bud?…Are you kidding me?” (60). The taxi driver doesn't really understand what or why he's asking. For Holden, all this does nothing but confirm the uncertainty of his future and further strengthen his premonition of becoming an adult. In contrast, the second taxi driver completely understands the underlying meaning of Holden's question and has more or less the same fear. Holden asks the same question. “Well, do you know the ducks that swim in the lagoon?... Do you happen to know where they go in the winter?” Horwitz the taxi driver responds with surprising emotion. “How the hell is... middle of paper......king, Holden sits down and begins to imagine his death. He thinks about how it would affect his family, and that's the only thing he clings to. “Anyway, I kept fearing that I would get pneumonia, with all those pieces of ice in my hair, and that I would die. I felt so sorry for my mother and father. As a result of Salinger's use of ducks as a motif, Holden's collapse is understandable. Ultimately, the reader sees Holden forced to recognize that he must become an adult, just as ducks cannot stay in the pond during the winter. His mental breakdown is partly caused by the realization that he cannot be a fish, suspended in time until everything gets better. At this point he is forced to admit that he is not suspended in time, but is progressing, as little as he wants. It. This moment by the pond is almost the cornerstone of the novel.