Essay

1. The book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a novel written exclusively in first person limited. The narrator is not a reliable narrator and is very judgmental and opinionated. The diction of the book is informal and mature. Holden says "I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam biography" (Salinger 1). That quote establishes the narrator as being a person with informal language. Salinger frequently uses profanity to accent his words in a prolific way. The majority of the book is in chronological order but it contains multiple flashbacks. In general the book is told like a story and is very casual and personal. Holden, the narrator, tells it how it is. Salinger uses spatial order to describe places like Holden's dorm room, nightclubs and Holden's hotel. In the beginning of the novel Salinger foreshadows Holden's hospitalization in a mental facility. Later it is revealed that the entire novel is Holden's memory of his adventure in New York and explains how he ended up in a mental institution. The entire novel is a framed narrative about Holden's adventure after he got kicked out of Pencey. Holden is telling a story about his past self. Salinger uses transitional devices to mark the frequent changes in setting from Pencey to the Hotel to the nightclubs and bars. The novel has spatial order because Holden is moving around New York. Salinger uses informal diction and various narrative structures to tell the story of how Holden ended up in a mental institution.

2. This section of the book was written to provide a detailed account of Holden's relationship with Jane. Salinger's usage of "intimately" has a connotation of sexual activity but has a denotation of close personal knowledge. An example of informal language is Salinge...

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...re Holden describes the band at the Lavender Room (69). Holden says "the band was putrid" and "corny brassy" which helps the reader understand that the band is terrible and this is just another example of why the Lavender Room sucks. Salinger uses tactile imagery to describe the hand holding the kissing with Jane. Holden states that when he held hands with Jane "you were happy" and that holding hands wasn't a big deal and sweaty hands didn't matter (79). This helps the reader understand that Jane and Holden really connected with each other. Holden describes the steaks they give the students at Pencey. The steaks are "little hard, dry jobs" that nobody likes (35). This shows that to an outsider Pencey looks like a good school but in reality it is not what it is cut out to be. These details and other show that Salinger is very capable of using imagery in his work.