Catcher in the Rye 9-10

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

In the passage by Daryn Kagan, the author speaks about her newish car and the persistent rattle sounds that it makes while she drives. No one seems to hear this rattle but her and her husband, it is a quiet thing that only they can hear. In the end of the poem Kagan speaks to the fact that everyone has a “rattle in their newish car” everyone has a “thorn in their side” everyone has something that “others can’t see or detect that you’re told to get over”. Kagan believes that everyone has something that they struggle with but can’t seem to shake, something they can’t seem to overcome.

In Catcher and the Rye Holden’s “rattle” is Allie’s baseball mitt.  Holden holds onto the mitt for sentimental reasons which remind him of his brother who passed away from cancer a couple of years prior to the beginning of the book’s timeline. From the way that Holden speaks about his brother the audience can see that he hasn’t completely accepted Allie’s death. Holden holds onto this mitt to hold onto his brother. After Allie’s death Holden breaks his hand after punching out all of the windows in the family garage, after telling this story he says “My hand still hurts me once in a while” (Salinger 50). The fact that Holden sometimes still feels pain in that broken hand, which exemplifies the rage and hurt that Holden felt after Allie’s death, shows that Holden still has that thorn in his side that prevents him from truly living.

Holden never really accepted or truly mourned after Allie’s death. He will always have a silent rattle in his car.