Category:Book ReportsPaper Title:Catcher in the RyeText:Catcher in the Rye EssayIt is often hard for a person to comprehend another persons point of view.
Too often a bias prevents this person from really listening and understandingthe argument another person is trying to make. The novel, The Catcher in theRye, by J. D. Salinger, is a classic and infamous novel.
This novels infamy isdue, in large part, to its protagonists use of slang and profanity throughoutthe book. The slang and the profanity are not without reason though. To betterunderstand Holden, as a person, the reader to know him in a more personal way. Holden must use the slang and the rather foul language that he does for thenovel to succeed as a powerful and truthful testimonial to all of the phoninessin the world. The only true personal glimpse that the reader has of Holden is when he usesslang and cursing. Readers sense that he is laid back with his casual, sarcasticvery big deal (3), and passionate about his emotions I wouldnt visitthat sunuvabitch Morrow for all the dough in the world, even if I was desperate(58).
The readers, although they may object to Holdens use of slang, such ascorny, phony, and dopey, tend to relate better when they have a narrator and aprotaginst that can speak to everyone as though he is a real person, and notjust a character in a book. Holden has such strong emotions that it would not be appropriate for him totry and shove them all into simple phrases. Holden needs to yell his ideas outwith the feeling that he has, so that he can show all the readers know how hefeels inside. To Holden, goddamn is not just profanity; it represents all of thefrustration and anger that he is feeling for the world today. Guys that talkabout how many miles to the gallon they get in their goddamn cars, the same guysthat get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf (122).
Swell, toHolden, is the pinaccle of his compliments; as when he says, The kid wasswell, he was walking in the street, instead of the sidewalk, but right next tothe curb (115). This little boy is a rebel, just like Holden, and Holdenadmires him. The whole novel is based on what Holden thinks about the world. Hisdamns, goddamns, and craps allow readers to be brought into a world of differentthoughts. This time the opinion will be carefully thought about and notdismissed.
As a novel, The Catcher in the Rye is supposed to stir up people and makethem think. It would hardly be right to leave the reader not shaken up andwondering a bit about his position as a phony. I can just see the big phonybastard telling us what a swell guy he was, what a hot shot he was and all(17). Holden Caulfield is here to tell everyone that he can be himself, and itis not necessary for anyone to conform to the phony world today.
I didntcare, I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, I was damn near bawling, no one elsewas that happy (213). He does not care that no other guy in the world wouldshow such emotion, he is happy, and there is no way he is going to hide it. Andif he needs to become a bit inappropriate, although for the novel, it is veryappropriate, then so be it. The boy has a point and every reader should hear it. Writing is supposed to evoke the deepest, most hidden emotions from itsreaders.
Without the sense of Holdens real struggles and real, not phony,antidote on life, the novel would fail miserably. Holden grabs the readersattention with his way of talking and his attitude of life. The reader becomesso engrossed with Holden and his comments on people, and the world in general,that it is hard for one not to see exactly what Holden is trying to say.Book Reports
