essay

‘’Catcher in the Rye, the Role of Fiction’’  

The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of Holden who is attempting to connect socially with people, but he has failed to do so. This has caused him to dread adulthood, choosing to remain a child (Salinger, 1951). The book narrates of Holden’s story in a manner where he desires to have a relationship with adults, but his efforts have been derailed by his past experiences of encountering cab drivers, tourists, nuns, former classmates, which resulted into anger and resentment (Bishop, 2001). These former experiences left him with little sense of the societal norms of socialization, failing to conform to them, and therefore do not succeed in his attempts.  He consequently falls to self-protection and expresses his disgust and disappointment with the world (Yahya & Babaee, 2014).

Holden dismisses the individual and adult world terming them phony. He behaves immaturely through making inappropriate decisions, and refuses to grow up (Bishop, 2001). The result is that he fails to mature enough to interact with adults leading to his total breakdown. This novel uses different themes, tones or fictions in bringing out the story and feelings of Holden (Wang & Zhang, 2010).

Thesis statement

This paper aims at discussing the elements of literature used in telling the story such as the tone and the theme, as well as their role in literature. In addressing the theme and the tone, I will identify examples of these aspects of literature as used in the novel.

Significance

The tone of the narration helps the reader in understanding the emotions of the narrator. Tone is one of the most important elements in literature as well as novels as they communicate the mood of the story in general (Salinger, 1951). The theme gives the reader the main message and focus of the story.

Theme

The main theme in the novel is about the alienation of Holden from the rest of the society. The writer portrays the society being a place where the human values of compassion and affection have been replaced with the love of power and money (Chen, 2009). Holden is depicted as a person clinging to a world that ceased to exist. It also depicts the insanity and loneliness which characterizes the modern society, leading to the problems which Holden is going through. He speaks of falling in “some crazy cliff” to explain the fallen world. As such Holden desires to be caught as he falls, but nobody is around him (Wang & Zhang, 2010).

Tone

The tone used by Holden to narrate his state can be described as full of bitterness, disgust, nostalgic longing, and cynicism. He begins to tell the story by saying it is a “madman stuff” (Yahya & Babaee, 2014). Throughout the story, Holden expresses his disgust by talking harshly to Phoebe, as well as expressing that he wants to remain a child and not adult, if becoming and an adult meant conforming to the norms of the society (Chen, 2009).

Humor

In narrating his experiences in the story, Holden uses humor when he says he would rather remain young than being an adult. He says adults are “phony” and cannot be understood but they would rather allow children to conform to values in order to respect them.  

Satire

This novel is full of satire in the way it describes things. One of the examples of satire is when Holden is walking to his hotel and observes “fifty-one gorgeous blocks”. Another is when Holden asks Ackley to remove his socks because they have a funny smell, and Ackley replies “if you don’t like it, you know what to do about it”. “what a witty guy”, retorts Holden (Wang & Zhang, 2010). References:

Bishop, B. (2001). On Rereading "Catcher in the Rye". The English Journal, 91(2), 105. doi:10.2307/822359

Chen, L. (2009). An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye. Asian Social Science, 5(5). doi:10.5539/ass.v5n5p143

Salinger, J.D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Print. 

Wang, C., & Zhang, X. (2010). Returning to Youth and Nature —The Catcher in the Rye in Ecocriticism. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(3). doi:10.4304/jltr.1.3.269-273

Yahya, W. R., & Babaee, R. (2014). Salinger’s Depiction of Trauma in The Catcher in the Rye. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(9). doi:10.4304/tpls.4.9.1825-1828

The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J. D. Salinger (book)