“If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn't,” stated famous American film critic and screenwriter Roger Ebert. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield applies to the reader that things in the novel actually represent something. The red hunting hat represents Holden’s uniqueness and individuality. Another symbol reveals about how Holden wants the world to be. The Museum of Natural History’s displays interest Holden because they never change. Symbols uncover how Holden views his life. The ducks in Central Park vanish every winter and come back in the spring. Holden wonders if the ducks actually know where they are going, and if he knows what he is doing with his life. The three major symbols in "The Catcher in The Rye" are the red hunting hat, the Museum of Natural History, and the ducks in Central Park. The red hunting hat represents Holden’s uniqueness and individuality. For example, “I still had my red hunting hat on, with the peak around to the back and all. I really got a bang out of that hat” (18). Holden really liked and cared about his red hunting hat. The hat also reveals how much it has helped Holden alienate himself from other people. Furthermore, “Then why she did - it damn near killed me - she reached in my coat pocket and she took out my red hunting hat” (118). Phoebe knows how much the hat meant to Holden. Phoebe also respects about how Holden feels about the world. The red hunting hat unveils how Holden isolates himself from others while wearing it. The museum’s displays interest Holden because they never change. For example, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything stayed right there where it was” (119). Holden does not like things that change. It also displays that Holden wishes that everything would stay the same. Additionally, “Nobody’d move Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different is you” (120). This