Catcher In The Rye Literary Techniques

Literature has always relied on techniques to catch the reader’s attention and format the story, and “the Catcher in the Rye” is no exception. Salinger brought many different writing styles into his novel to make it a bestseller. With his knowledge, Salinger was able to depict the persona of Holden to the reader without directly stating his characteristics. Salinger proves Holden is a lonesome figure who wanted to fit in but struggles to be accepted. The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden as one who struggles with his sexuality and adulthood and wants to save children from adulthood because of the difficulties that it has brought himself. Salinger greatly expresses Holden through the use of metaphor, imagery, symbolism,

J.D Salinger’ The Catcher in the Rye is very unique in terms of the writing style not only is the story told in a past tense, first person point of view but it is also loosely written in a writing fashion known as stream of consciousness writing. This term was introduced by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890), it is a form of literary style in which a character’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted dialogue. This style of literature can be seen when Holden is watching a band play with Jean and he begins to critique them yet he somehow start thinking about Old Spice and then of him as a sailor. Holden thoughts are continues yet are often unconnected like in this example, one thought is always leading to another and to another and so on.

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

A common word Holden employs the use of is ‘phony’. This is seen when he says “For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger, 13). Other uses of vernacular include the words galoshes, crumby, flit, dough, chisel, swanky, and swell. These words add to the emotion and descriptive quality of the novel. “Some guy next to me was snowing hell out of the babe he was with” is an example of vernacular that helps to describe Holden’s thoughts (Salinger, 142). An example of slang used to add detail to the writing is, “I had a feeling old Ackley'd probably heard all the racket and was awake” (Salinger, 46). The particular language selected in the writing of The Catcher in the Rye also helps the reader relate to the main character, and is therefore an effective style of writing in many situations.

“You'll have to jump.' 'I'll jump.' 'Jump!' Major Danby cried. Yossarian jumped. Nately's whore was hiding just outside the door. The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off” (Heller 350). Yossarian ends his dialogue in a cheery and fun way because he is finally going to be free from the oppression of the US military. This also shows his increased morals, because in the beginning, he would have just killed the girl for trying to kill him. He also uses arrangement to show America at the time like, “ Heller's satirical masterpiece tells us something about the madness of America” (Pilger, John). This shows how the novel portrays the insanity of the war at this time and how these people need help or to get out. The main part of the novel is just the insane adventures Yossarian goes on throughout his horrifying experience.

In this novel, Salinger shows the diction mainly during the dialogues between the characters. The diction of The Catcher In The Rye is informal due to the different types of colloquial used throughout the story. An example of this colloquial diction in the book was when Stradlater told Holden to hurry up in this way, ”Why don’tcha? I will, in minute time.” (Stradlater, p.32) We can see that Stradlater uses a type of slang language as in “don’tcha.” This shows the diction of the story and how it gives us a feel for what Salinger was trying to do to catch the reader's attention.

Holden’s story takes place in the 1950s. Because of this, it is necessary that the reader reads the story from multiple points of views. As Foster puts it, “don’t read with your eyes” (Foster 228) meaning that it is sometimes necessary to read from a perspective that will let you relate to and sympathize with the characters. The time period is shown many times such as when Holden goes dancing and asks a girl if she feels like “jitterbugging a little bit” (Salinger 72) referencing an iconic dance from that era. What people said and how they said it were very different in the past, and it is important to keep that in mind while reading.

The world of adults is full of phonies and the only way to combat it is to be as innocent as a child. Today, people have become so self-interested that they fail to listen to everyone - even themselves. These are the points J.D. Salinger brings up in his novel The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the novel, J.D. Salinger’s uses of voice, conflict, aposiopesis, irony, and metaphor emphasize these points. The Catcher in the Rye is a story of a battle to preserve innocence.

The “Catcher and the Rye” has been called one of the greatest works of American literature. J.D. Salinger certainly wrote a masterpiece that has brought much controversy and criticism. If the reader does not see and understand the intense symbolism and explicit writing, the reader will misunderstand Salinger’s work. Holden is lonely and afraid. After a lot of trouble and terrible experiences he is alone and realizes the world really does not care about him. The “Catcher and the Rye” is a powerful and moving book whose theme is still strong in American Culture today. Capturing and understanding the teen voice remains to be a struggle in the American Family of today.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a novel about a boy named Holden Caulfield who struggles with many problems in his life that we learn about all in a short span of time. The stories starts with Holden leaving Pencey, another school he has been kicked out of, and his small journey before he needs to return home. There are four major symbols that are shown in the book to help the reader fully understand the theme of the story. The four themes are Holden’s loss of innocence, his preoccupation with death, his struggles with depression, and finally his inability to transition. These four themes have numerous symbols that reflect why they are important into explaining Holden’s story.

The Catcher in The Rye is about a seventeen-year-old boy Named Holden who is in a mental hospital. Having a flashback about what happened last December when he was 16 and just got kicked out of Pence prep in the story he is trying to discover the world. Confused about everything does poorly in school and shows depression in hatred for everyone and everything. Throughout the story he meets people that impact his life like Mr. Spencer and Robert Ackley.

The Catcher in the Rye is written by J.D. Salinger and published July 16, 1951. This story in short is about a boy named Holden Caulfield in the 1950s who is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. It begins with Holden at a private school named Pencey Prep School in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. This was Holden fourth school as he’d been failed from the previous three, also he was soon to be expelled from Pencey to. Holden visits his old history to say goodbye and that he would not be returning after the break. Back in his dorm, Holden’s roommate Stradlater had been on a date with Jane Gallagher who Holden has some affection for. when questioning Stradlater about if he performed coitus with Jane, Stradlater teases Holden in a fit Holden attacks

Considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, The Catcher in the Rye has affected readers around the globe since its publication in 1951. Its contemporary critics, however, gave the novel mixed reviews. Compared to the ideals of 1950s America, Holden Caulfield, the emotionally immature, extremely judgmental, teen-aged main character of “Catcher,” embodies the antithesis. Holden was an affront to the new social order, which demanded conformity and propagated the “father knows best” mentality. Americans, however, despite the postwar economic boom, remained suspicious of authority. In idyllic suburban neighborhoods across the country, while families huddled around their new television screens, people discussed their neighbors’ movements, made distrustful even of their closest friends by the “Red Scare”. The American Dream seemed like a golden ring just out of reach, leaving people feeling like they were going around in circles without a clear destination or purpose. With his sense of nostalgia for better times, his bleak perspective of the future, and his contradictory nature, Holden speaks directly to this sense of confusion at the world that Americans felt during the 1950s.

The past always has a way coming back to find you, no matter if it is a good thing or even a bad thing that can haunt you for the rest of your life. Life can always have a turning point for you. With this being said, you may not even know when it can happen to you. Reading the novel The Catcher in the Rye, it has shown that Holden has experienced and encountered people that have found ways to come back and takes his life on a turn. The saying history repeats itself, is true, because it always finds a way back to you and there are always life lessons to learn from your own mistakes.

In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger creates a unique narration through the way Holden speaks. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger reveals the inner Holden Caufield through the style of Salinger's writing. Salinger writes the book as if Holden Caulfield speaks directly through the reader, like a kid telling a story to his friends. Like with most conversations, there is more to infer from not only the speaker says, but also how the speaker says it. In the book, readers can infer that Holden is much more than a cynical kid. In reality, he is "too affectionate" and "very emotional" (76), much like his little sister Phoebe.