Ducks, Fish, and Other Wildlife

Holden is always worried about where the ducks go when it's winter. What happens to them? Do they leave? Do they freeze to death?

In one sense, the ducks might symbolize resurrection – they always return in the spring. But you might have some difficulty arguing this, this Holden is more concerned about the ducks dying than he is excited as the prospect of them returning, and also, it's December, so spring isn't really on anyone's mind right now.

More likely, we can work the mortality angle here to explain Holden's obsession. You know the scene where Holden goes to the lagoon and looks for the ducks, and then starts thinking about his own death, and then ruminates on Allie? Exactly. That means all these things are related.

As a boy who has experienced death on a personal level more than once (with both Allie and James Castle), Holden is plagued with thoughts of death. While others may find solace in religion (like the two nuns, or the Quaker student that he knew at school) or romanticized logic (like the cab driver who insists that, obviously, mother nature would take care of the fish – and the ducks), Holden does not.

What seems to bother him so much about mortality is that he equates death with disappearing. It isn't just that Allie's dead, it's that he's disappeared under the ground. When Holden crosses the street and begs Allie not to let him disappear, he's in a way asking not to die. If Holden indeed expressed a death wish earlier (he mentioned jumping out the window, his thoughts about the atomic bomb), then this scene is the counter to that. As much as he might drop the suicide thought in moments of anger and pain, he doesn't really want to die; he's actually incredibly scared by the thought (hence the sweating and difficulty breathing and so forth).