Catcher In The Rye Narrative Analysis

Yardley suggest that J.D. Salinger was unsuccessful in his syntax and diction in The Catcher in the Rye to weaken the praises of people who believe the book is exceptionally good in speaking like a teenager. Yardley says his attempts “only produces an adult’s unwitting parody of teen-speak,” which is a complete understatement. He claims Salinger was oblivious to what teenage language is usually like, using small examples like how Salinger uses “ya know” instead of “y’know.” Salinger was an adult writing in a teenage voice, which creates a lot of complication. He obviously didn’t know how a teenager spoke or acted, which ended up making the book a little bit peculiar. The character Holden Caulfield supposedly behaves like a child, but the way he speaks isn’t very child-like. He drinks alcohol and has grey hair, but he also becomes absorbed into

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

The Catcher in the Rye, like many other great works, was met by scornful criticism and unyielding admiration. However, many literary critics also marveled at Salinger's use of language, which was used to make Holden Caulfield, the main character, extremely realistic. Such language includes both repetition of phrases and blatant cursing, in order to capture the informal speech of the average, northeastern American adolescent. Through Holden's thoughts and dialogues, Salinger successfully created a teenage boy.

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

The lost of innocence can totally change the way people view the world. A person who illustrates this can be found in J.D. Salinger’s novel, the Catcher in the Rye. The story happened during the 1950s, in a small town in Pennsylvania called Agerstown. A teenage boy named Holden, who witnesses the death of his older brother Allie when he was only 13 years old. Then consequently, he blames himself all his life for the death of Allie. As time went by he starts to search for a sense of innocence that was lost in the beginning of the novel. Throughout the course of the novel, the author conveys that Holden is continually stuck in between childhood and adulthood. The author uses Holden’s struggle to convey that in reality often times people who

During the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, author J.D. Salinger brings Holden’s pessimistic, antisocial personality to life through what he says, how he says it, and through the characters he meets. Salinger bases Holden’s expressions off of the culture of the 1950’s, his own personal dialect, and the everyday occurrences of Holden’s life in mind. J.D. Salinger manipulates the diction, uses syntax to criticize others, and controls the character interaction and dialogue in order to create the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

The author of The Catcher In The Rye also uses Holden's speech and language as a method of characterization. Holden narrates the entire plot in a colloquial teenage language filled with profanity which is nothing like what a matured

"You did. You did,"..."Daddy'll kill you!"(Salinger 165). Holden is at a hotel and he was offered to get a prostitute so he pays for one and gets into a real weird situation with her which leads him into an even more horrible situation , but Holden isn't too good with situations like that so he lies to the prostitute so they won't have to have sex "The thing is, I had an operation very recently."..."On my wuddayacallit--my clavichord."(Salinger 96). When holden gets into bad situations he acts weird and lies to cover himself up.

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

As humans we sometimes seek isolation rather than human interaction for fear of being overwhelmed emotionally. For some people, comfort comes with the knowledge that alone, they are the masters of their own emotions, free from the pain of the world's occasional bitterness and sting. In the coming-of-age tale "Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger explores this phenomenon through the voice of the narrator, Holden Caulfield. Although Holden possesses a voice of intelligence, sensitivity and insight he is also bitter with the hypocrisy and ugliness that he perceives in the world around him. The vividness with which he expresses his discontent is seen manifested in the criticisms that Holden aims at various characters throughout the story. As the

Holden knows that he acts immature for his age. He admits it many times, and he knows he is a liar, also. “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful” (22, Salinger). I

Holden has an apparent dislike for society. He insists that "[he] is surrounded by phonies (Salinger 13)" and left Elkton Hills because of it.

Salinger is praised for capturing the “shaky, emotionally tumultuous” period of adolescence; one device he uses for this are qualifications such as “I really did” and “It really was”. Costello suggests that “They simply give a sense of looseness of expression and looseness of thought”, but in my opinion they also convey Holden’s lack of self-confidence (clearly emphasised by his disillusionment) which may resonate with many adolescents. S. Behrman specifies that in an attempt to demonstrate honesty, Holden’s repetition of “it really does” is pronounced because “he so aware of the danger of slipping into phoniness himself that he has to repeat it over and over”. This reinforces Holden’s lack of self-confidence. Notably, Holden’s circumvention of “the most strongly forbidden terms” characterises him as sensitive and intelligent, although if this is relatable to “the average teenager” I cannot

The way Holden explains the things he finds interesting and uninteresting gives the reader a good sense of his personality (Page 2 “If there’s one thing I hate, it is the movies. Do not even mention them to me.”) Holden’s use of phrasing lets the reader understand his changing emotions easily. Another example is in chapter 14: Holden feels depressed after Sunny leaves and thinks about his dead brother Allie. “It was not that I didn’t used to take him with me when I went somewhere. I did. But that one day, I didn’t.” From this, it is clear that Holden has regrets about things he said or did to his younger brother before he died; thus showing that Holden is not only an angry teenage boy who is flunking school but he can be sweet and has a soft spot for his siblings. It is clear that the author has taken some time to develop Holden’s personality in depth and to show him feeling a variety of emotions. To further prove this, on page 211, Holden says “I was sort-of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse […] if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off.” This shows character growth (from angry at life to a beginning of acceptance) which is crucial in this type of novel. J.D. Salinger goes past creating a complex character, he makes the character grow and

Jd Salinger shows us that Holden does not realize that he still possesses childlike qualities and innocence. He sees himself as mature and completely grown up, although he is still naive on how to deal with large issues and conflict. He also does not know how to sort through his own issues and problems that he has dealt with in his life. Like the death of his brother Allie who plays a big part in who Holden is and what he values. Allie’s death showed holden that innocence is valuable and is something you should not let go of. Holden never got closure with Allie’s death because he was never there for the funeral (pg 38) and even though he was not part of his death what so ever, Holden blames some of his death on himself. Holden acts and thinks like a child in many situations. Holden could do well in school because in the classes that he tries in he gets a good grade. Holden never puts effort into something that he does not want to do.