The Catcher in the Rye: Metaphors 4 key examples

The idiom "getting the ax," as Holden uses it here, typically means being fired or dismissed, as it contains an implied metaphor of something being chopped off or separated. By saying he "got the ax," Holden’s making light of the permanent and shocking nature of his expulsion from Pencey. He's also admitting his own failure to meet the school's academic expectations. In addition to this, Salinger’s ax metaphor extends beyond its literal meaning to reflect Holden's broader feelings of rejection and inadequacy. Even though he reassures his audience that “they give the ax quite frequently at Pencey,” the use of this idiom implies that he feels he’s been severed from something that was important to him. By making it sound like a joke, he’s downplaying his failure. It’s an attempt to cope with the disappointment by brushing it off rather than feeling it fully.

The metaphor of life as a “game” that Spencer is trying to impress on Holden here suggests that life can be played to win or lose. Spencer is implying that Holden should only plan to win if he can appear to stick to its “rules,” but Holden internally disagrees. Holden thinks that life is only a game if one is on the winning side, “where all the hot-shots are.” He dislikes the “game” as an idea because it implies that success depends on playing by arbitrary regulations. These are in direct conflict with his emerging values of truth and authenticity. He feels life can’t be considered a game “if you get on the other side,” or aren’t equipped to follow the rules like the “hot-shots” can.

The dramatic irony here lies in Holden's failure to recognize his own privilege. He dismisses Spencer’s advice as out of touch because he thinks his teacher doesn’t understand that there’s “no game” for him. He’s missing an important fact, though, and Spencer sees something that Holden apparently cannot: Holden is failing to recognize his privilege, as he doesn’t understand that he himself is on the “right side” of the game. He’s a wealthy white male American child who has attended a prep school, and so he’s blessed with far more privilege than many others. The reader, however, can see that Holden's complaint that the “game of life” is unfair is hardly coming from a reliable source.

There are two types of young female hand-holders, according to Holden. The metaphor Holden uses here describes first one and then the other. One sort, he says, has hands that “goddamn die” when held. This expression illustrates how these girls’ hands become limp and unresponsive, signaling disinterest in him. On the other hand, there are girls whose hands are in constant movement, as if they "think they have to keep moving their hand all the time." Although these hands aren’t “dead,” they aren’t much better, and this statement points to his annoyance that they think they need to impress or entertain him.

Overall, this remark emphasizes Holden's irritation and discomfort with the superficiality of these interactions. Most girls, in his opinion, aren’t holding hands with him for the right reasons. He wants more authentic and meaningful connection than the ones he’s used to getting, and he thinks that hand-holding technique is emblematic of this issue.

Holden makes an assumption on behalf of his audience here—namely, that they’ll assume Jane is a physically cold person because she and Holden never had sex. Holden has sexual (or at least somewhat sexual) thoughts about most of the young women in his life (whether they’re imagined or real), so it’s interesting that he’s keen to exclude Jane from this category here without giving the impression that she’s cold. He wants to give his audience the right idea about Jane, as he thinks she’s a good person. By stating that "she was terrific to hold hands with," Holden makes it clear that he does feel a strong connection to her and that she’s not abnormally physically or sexually chilly. Even though they never “necked or horsed around much” he doesn’t consider her emotionally distant or metaphorically cold.