Catcher in the Rye Word Choice
Word Choice in The Catcher in the Rye
By Tom Condon
Word choice is a crucial element in a well-crafted story. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is about a 16-year-old in New York in the 1950's named Holden Caulfield. The book is about his exploration in the world as he suffers from severe mental trauma from his point of view. J.D. Salinger uses word choice for realism, theme, and depth of character to make the story relate to the reader and add dimension. The Catcher in Rye contains many distinct characters, and the dialogue and inner thought are crucial in the reader’s view of them. The word choice is one of the key components in displaying the character’s personality, and makes them into a round character. Holden is the most important character in the story, because the book revolves around his actions and thoughts as he narrates his story. He has a lot of depth and character traits that are very important to the story. Holden talks in a way that really shows his youth and naive nature. “He also started picking his nose… he was really getting the old thumb in there...it's pretty disgusting to watch somebody pick their nose” (9). He makes many small observations throughout the book that show his unique character. Holden uses certain words that show his age (“jerks”, “pansy”, “knockers”, etc.). Yet he also uses terms that show his deep-thinking. “’You ought to go to a boy’s school… It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques’” ( 131). His outlook of school shows how deep his observation skills are. He has a lot of focus on certain things. He says things that are truly noteworthy, but he says them as a teenager might. His words show his character, but
By Tom Condon
Word choice is a crucial element in a well-crafted story. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is about a 16-year-old in New York in the 1950's named Holden Caulfield. The book is about his exploration in the world as he suffers from severe mental trauma from his point of view. J.D. Salinger uses word choice for realism, theme, and depth of character to make the story relate to the reader and add dimension. The Catcher in Rye contains many distinct characters, and the dialogue and inner thought are crucial in the reader’s view of them. The word choice is one of the key components in displaying the character’s personality, and makes them into a round character. Holden is the most important character in the story, because the book revolves around his actions and thoughts as he narrates his story. He has a lot of depth and character traits that are very important to the story. Holden talks in a way that really shows his youth and naive nature. “He also started picking his nose… he was really getting the old thumb in there...it's pretty disgusting to watch somebody pick their nose” (9). He makes many small observations throughout the book that show his unique character. Holden uses certain words that show his age (“jerks”, “pansy”, “knockers”, etc.). Yet he also uses terms that show his deep-thinking. “’You ought to go to a boy’s school… It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques’” ( 131). His outlook of school shows how deep his observation skills are. He has a lot of focus on certain things. He says things that are truly noteworthy, but he says them as a teenager might. His words show his character, but