The Catcher in the Rye The pages used for this rhetorical analysis range from page thirty-eight to forty. The opening sentence, “So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allie’s baseball mitt.” on page thirty-eight and the closing sentence, “Some things are hard to remember.” on page forty is a significant section in the novel because it displays character development of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.
WHY PASSAGE IS CRITICAL TO THE NOVEL
To commence, this section of the passage is critical to the novel because it is an important character development of Holden. The reader is able to see Holden’s view on death and innocence. Furthermore, in this passage of the novel, it includes an important reoccurring theme of mortality.
When Holden was younger, his brother died of Leukemia. Even though Holden was older than his brother, he idolized him because he was a sensitive, intelligent, and lovely kid. However there is a deeper meaning to the adulation. Holden venerated Allie because he was young and innocent, furthermore, he was not perverted by the world of sex and adults. The allegory of Allie is critical to the novel because it gradually becomes clear that Allie’s demise was one of the most distressing experiences of Holden’s life and plays a key role in his current
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This word is a strong indication of how Holden feels about the adult world. He feels as though adults are phony, superficial, and shallow; he has called almost everyone that he has come into contact with, a phony. However “phony” is not just repetitive, but it is also a central theme of the novel because he feels as though every adult is a phony and the adults do not notice their own phoniness. On the contrary, it is ironic that he views himself as the epitome of virtue surrounded by phonies, but in fact, Holden is actually a phony himself, by being a compulsive liar and refusing to face the
7) Page 14: Notice how Holden is disgusted or annoyed by all the aspects of Spencer that demonstrate his old age: “the bumpy chest”, the “house smelling like Vicks”, the man not being able to “flick a book on a bed”, his “stooped figure”. In the beginning of the chapter he wonders what purpose Spencer even has in still being alive.
In ‘Here’s Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense’, Alex Newhouse, a lawyer who resides in the area of Sunnyside, Washington addresses the controversial issue of the legalization of cannabis. The sole purpose of Newhouse’s article is to persuade readers and voters that marijuana should be legalized. Throughout his article, Newhouse focuses on the use of ethos and logos, while also slightly focusing on the use of pathos, to help persuade his audience. The incorporation of such rhetoric strategies allows Newhouse to change the opinions of individuals with views opposing the opinions he, himself, holds.
Many people in today’s society tend to believe that a good education is the fastest way to move up the ladder in their chosen. People believe that those who seek further education at a college or university are more intelligent. Indeed, a college education is a basic requirement for many white collar, and some blue collar, jobs. In an effort to persuade his audience that intelligence cannot be measured by the amount of education a person has Mike Rose wrote an article entitled “Blue Collar Brilliance”. The article that appeared in the American Scholar, a quarterly literary magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, established in 1932. The American Scholar audience includes, Company’s , Employees,
In the essay, “What You Eat is Your Business”, Radley Balko writes to tell his audience about how the government is trying to control people’s health and eating habits by restricting food, taxing high calorie food, and considering menu labeling. Balko includes in his essay that government restricting diets and having socialist insurance is not helping the obesity problem, but it is only making it worse because it not allowing people to take their health in to their own hands so they have no drive to lose weight or eat healthy. In his essay, Balko is targeting society, including those who may be obese, he is trying to show them that the laws our
In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells a story of a young boy, Holden, who never quite understood his stance on life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles to adapt to the inevitable transition into adulthood, often worrying more about others than himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses connotative diction, repetition, and specific diction to convey Holden’s struggle of accepting life changes that led him to becoming mentally unstable. To start off, Salinger illustrates Holden’s nature by using connotative diction.
Although Holden “hardly even know[s]” James, he sees him as someone who is real and not phony, admiring his resistance to lie (Salinger 171. The deaths of Allie and James cause Holden to contemplate suicide in order to escape the world of phoniness he lives in. Consequently, Holden’s constant thoughts about suicide lead to his own loss of innocence and advancement toward adulthood.
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye presents a look into the mind of Holden Caulfield, a popular literary icon numerous teenagers have rightfully found themselves relating to at some point. While the familiar emotions of Holden were welcoming for me, his anecdotes and witty remarks proved entertaining as well. The story chronicles Holden’s exploration through New York post-expulsion, with his point of view influenced by his growing alienation with the world. He represents that growing sense of unease at growing up and facing a reality that is not always pretty, and, in his case, a need to save children from having to face that reality. I personally admired the fact that he was not just an angry teenager in the world as stereotypes suggest.
He recognizes that children are not phonies, they say what they want, do what they want, and do not care what others think. However, he sees that adults are the exact opposite. Their world, the phony world, is something he has no interest in being part of. As a result, Holden distances himself from maturing, consequently preventing any meaningful interaction from occurring for the duration of the novel. Holden uses phoniness to define himself subconsciously. When he labels everyone around him as phony he gives himself an excuse to alienate himself from others.
A college education is valuable and its quality is of the highest importance to most Americans. In his essay, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students,” Mark Edmundson utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos to effectively deliver his argument that the current educational system, especially in college, revolves around consumerism which in turn has negatively impacted students, teachers, and universities in general. However, although Edmundson presents an overall logically sound argument, there are few instances throughout the article that may hinder the reliability of his claims to the audience.
The irony of Holden detesting phoniness and adulthood is that he acts so much like an adult with his curiosity and experience with alcohol and sex that he misses his own opposition. Holden hates the responsibility, morality, and accountability of being an adult and embraces childhood. This contradicts everything that he desires and to want to take part in. This causes his own corruption and enables a failure to relate to himself.
“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, is a hilarious must read for junior high school students and any other aspiring writers. Her essay inspires comfort and confidence in writing a first draft. It concretes that all writers experience the “shitty” first draft. Anne Lamott wrote this instructional information in 1995, but it is timeless information. She blows the idea of writing an immaculate first draft out of the water. Anne supports the idea that bad first drafts will almost always lead to better second, third and final drafts. She symbolizes the first draft to be like a child. Where you put all your thoughts and emotions out there in words on paper, you go all over the place, you say all kinds of ridiculous things, and all with the
Though Holden’s digressions may seem senseless, J.D. Salinger uses them as a tool for the readers of his novel, Catcher in the Rye, to examine and understand Holden more deeply. To begin, the main character of the film, whom Holden describes as “Alec something,” loses his memory after a war, which leaves him “carrying a cane and limping all over the place” (Salinger 179). This corresponds to Holden’s “war,” or his battle against depression and society. This struggle is what leaves him in need of support from his peers and family to “limp away from his bad times, although they will always leave an impression on his life. Holden also identifies with the protagonist of the movie because in the way that the movie character lost all memory, Holden
Logos: It is an appeal to the mind with the use of logic, rationality and critical reasoning to persuade the audience. The author uses logos in his article to make a logical connection with the topic. For example, the author uses the explanation of ideas in the article and employs lots of diagrams in each parts of the topic to show the visualization to support his evidence which is very informative because the visuals give lots of information about what the article is about and that to get attention of the audience.
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 self-narration of Holden’s life is what gives the reader an insight into the way he thinks and feels. It helps you understand why Holden is the way he is. Without this explanation from him, you wouldn’t empathise with him, or like him very much at all. It’s the little stories he tells, like the story about Allies baseball mitt, “…Allie had this left-handed fielders mitt… he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink.” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) or about how he knows Jane Gallagher, “You were never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.72) that make you see the softer side to him.