Analysis Of Jonathan Yardley 's ' The Rye '

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,

Jerome David Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, is a work of fiction and a

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.

Many people believe that The Catcher in the Rye should be banned in public schools because of foul language and its sexual themes. However, Holden is a teenage boy and as most teenagers do, they try to find out who they are and are often prone to using profane language. When talking to Mr. Spencer, Holden responds by saying “Boy!” and begins to think “I also say ‘Boy!’ quite a lot. Partly […] because I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I can like I’m about thirteen” (Salinger 11). Although many people think the book should be banned, Holden is just being a teenager and it gives teens an example of someone who they can relate to; the novel helps teens to realize that they are not alone and that there are other teens, fictional and otherwise, out there who they can, like

Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has been pronounced a literary classic for its atypical portrayal of adolescence, to effectively convey the protagonist’s alienation and confusion. The introduction of The Catcher in the Rye is underpinned by disorder and confusion through a stream-of-consciousness narration, which digresses from one subject to another. Consequently, Holden’s multitudinous thoughts and feelings appear to lack a cohesive pattern. Additionally, Holden’s prevalent ascription of other students as “phony” (Salinger, p.3) alludes to his alienation and isolation as a form of self-protection; he rejects those he does not understand. Furthermore, the vocabulary encapsulates typical adolescence dialect of the 1940s, and resultantly, alienates contemporary reader. This is typified through Holden’s use of colloquial speech, in particular, his exclamation “that killed me” (Salinger, p.42) to express his amusement. Therefore, the introduction of Holden’s disjointed monologue in The Catcher in the Rye foreshadows Salinger’s unique interpretation of adolescence.

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

Salinger’s words do not echo through their phones and earbuds. Contributors in “Reaching Holden Caulfield’s Grandchildren,” New York Times Editorial all have individual analysis on whether or not teens today still can relate to Holden Caulfield. Many argued that Catcher in the Rye is outdated, like Mark Bauerlein, an author, and professor of English at Emory University. Bauerlein’s article “A Teenage Throwback”, claims that teens do not need Holden because “His glib irreverence doesn’t impress them”. Additionally, Holden’s drama and issues become irrelevant with teens that already “have personal dramas”.

Indeed, the language he uses is strictly anchored to the young sphere, with frequent colloquialism and a typical despiser tendency to harangue adults. But his speeches and thoughts are constantly affected by frequent digressions and his phrases are rarely well finished. There could be considered as symptoms of his fear of losing control of his life. His reluctant attitude to expose himself and to speak is due to the terror of making things disappear, or as stated in the last sentence, to lose the control over things and people: His obsessive attempt to protect children from the phony, vulgar world stings him to delete the words ‘Fuck you’ from the school corridors, But as Rosen interestingly points out, in portraying this crazy attempt of catching innocent children from the phony and disgusting world of adulthood Salinger exposes his young readers to the actual manifest of this same brutal reality: In this way it might be pointed out that the novel works as a bildungsroman if applied to readers, but it is not an attempt to save readers from real cruel life, and as Rosen points out, 
 It is only at the very end of the novel that Holden realises that probably, his crazy attempt of escaping adulthood, and his role of catcher children from this stage of life is inconsistent and not realistic. Charmed by his little sister’s happiness on the carousel, he realises how children’s life

The author has put in plenty of themes, messages, ideas, issues, and motifs. The character, Holden Caulfield is alienated from society, is experiencing the painfulness of growing up, thinks that the adult world is full of phoniness, and is sick of hearing about the American Dream from his teachers. JD Salinger has created a book that has raised plenty of questions and controversy towards the readers. The Catcher in the Rye shows how a teenage mind works. JD Salinger has used a stream of consciousness writing style where the character (Holden Caulfield) talks in first person as he presents his thoughts and feelings to the readers. The setting has taken place in the early fifties and the book uses a lot of profane words. The New York

In the bildungsroman Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger employs the struggle of individuality, inevitable maturation, and the childhood corruption of adulthood to reveal Holden’s alienation from society.

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

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.

It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.

Salinger's depiction of Holden Caulfield is considered one of the most convincing portrayals of an adolescent in literature. Intelligent, sensitive, and imaginative, Holden desires acceptance into the adult world even though he is sickened and obsessed by what he regards as its "phonies," including his teachers, parents, and his older

     J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye has captured the spirit of adolescence, dramatizing Holden Caulfield's vulgar language and melodramatic reactions. Written as the autobiographical account of a fictional teenage prep school student named Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye deals with material that is socially scandalous for the time (Gwynn, 1958). As an emotional, intelligent, and sensitive young man, Holden puts his inner world to the test through the sexual mores of his peers and elders, the teachings of his education, and his own emerging sense of self. Throughout the years, the language of the story has startled readers. Salinger's control of Holden's easy,