Catcher In The Rye

1 Pages 317 Words

Holden Caulfield narrates The Catcher in the Rye in the first person, describing what he himself sees and experiences, providing his own commentary on the people and events he describes. This was a very effective choice for the telling of the story made by the author, J.D Salinger. Holden Caulfield’s tone varied between disgust, cynicism, bitterness and an immature childish tone, which brought color to the story and contributed to the better understanding of Holden Caulfield himself.

Throughout the story many key concepts move the story along. “Phoniness,” which is probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye, is one of Holden’s favorite concepts. Holden expends so much energy searching for phoniness in others, that he never directly observes his own phoniness. For example, on the train to New York he lies to Mrs. Morrow as a prank telling her, that her son Ernest is a model student and is popular, when really Holden hates Ernest.

Telling the story in first person benefits the reader by giving an inside look into Holden’s strong emotions that help move the book along. For example, loneliness and longing for an intimate “adult” relationship was a driving force throughout the story. Most of the novel describes his almost manic quest for companionship as he flits from one meaningless encounter to another. Whenever he would get himself into a situation where he would try ending his loneliness, like the encounter with Sunny, the reader would think Holden mature, but then he would sabotage himself, backing out of the situation with an excuse, showing that immature childish tone.

Holden’s narration of the story brought feelings, emotions and experiences only Holden could have described. Holden as the narrator made the story simple to follow and also made let the reader really connect with this hypocritical boy who wasn’t ready to grow up....