Catcher In The Rye Argumentative Essay

1058 Words3 Pages

Kenia Hernandez
D. E. English
The Catcher in the Rye
Describe your speaker. What do you know about him/her? What do you NOT know about him/her? What makes your speaker an effective story teller? What character in the novel do you believe to be the least effective? Why? How does the speaker relate to this character? (200 -300 words)
Holden, the main character in the story, attends a prep school called Pencey Prep. He really dislikes the school and even says that it’s full of crook, although it’s mostly a wealthy school. Holden is very hot headed and seems a bit reckless, in the sense that he doesn’t care the consequences of his actions, or at least think them through. He also looks to be depressed or just jumpy in general. Despite being an …show more content…

that is a writer and works in Hollywood. He also has a sister named Phoebe that he believes to be very smart and clearly cares very much about her. Holden also had a brother, called Allie, who died of Leukemia in 1946. Holden describes Allie as “terrifically intelligent” and very nice. Holden also seems to think very low of himself when it comes to being smart and I think it’s due to the brightness of his siblings. Despite Holden giving a few personal details there are still quite a few things that we do not know about him. Some minor ones like his birthplace or his birthday but also large ones like what his childhood was like. That large detail could have given an insight as to why he seemed so depressed or anxious, or even why he doesn’t care about many things. It also doesn’t go into detail the infatuation that Holden has with Jean Gallagher, or if he even has one. Holden also stops his story saying that he’s going back to school in the September, he doesn’t divulge any more than that which leads you to wonder if he ever recovered or not. The reason Holden is an effective storyteller is because he uses very sarcastic and serious tones and speaks informal, like a teenager. The author …show more content…

Record and explain each. You must use details from the text to support your conclusions.
1. “But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written ‘F--- you’ on the wall…. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it…. I figured it was some pervert bum that’d sneaked in the school late at night… and then wrote it on the wall.” Chapter 25
This quote demonstrates how Holden views children as innocent while he views adults, most of them anyway, as “phonies”. For example in chapter 1 Holden calls D.B. a prostitute because he switched from writing stories to writing movies. Because of this Holden considers D.B. a sellout and a phony. Also, when Holden pictures himself as “the catcher in the rye” he imagines himself saving little kids from jumping off a cliff. Throughout the story it’s also noticeable that Holden seems to have a non-sexual minor obsession with children, like he wants to protect them.
2. “I swear if there’s another war. They better just take me out and stick me in front of a firing squad. I wouldn’t object.” Chapter

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