Holden Caulfield Comparison
This essay will determine the differences between two popular books, The catcher in the rye: by J.D Salanger and Great expectations: by Charles Dickens. Great expectations was first published in serial form in 1861 and is written in standard English with many colloquial and archaic words. As with catcher in the rye, it was first published in 1951 and is written in American English and also has many colloquial words and is also written as if the main character is speaking (first person narrative) directly to you.
The main characters Holden (Catcher in the rye) and Philip Pirrip, referred to as pip because
" My fathers name being Pirrip and my Christian name being Philip my infant tongue could make no more of both names than pip, so I called …show more content…
myself pip and came to be called pip". "Christian" is an example of an archaic word as it is not in common use but it is Standard English. Pip is 7-8 years of age while Holden is 15-16.
G.E is set a long time ago while in CATR could be set in the modern day. In G.E the sentences are long but the paragraphs are relatively small, were as in CATR the sentence are more varied with many short sentences
"He's in Hollywood."
"He just got a jaguar."
"He didn't used to."
Also the opening paragraph is very long, 28 lines long were as in G.E it is very short, 4 lines in fact.
In CATR a lot of colloquial language is used such as "lousy", "crap", "goddam", "stuff". In G.E there are not many colloquial words used but there are a lot of archaic words such as "lozenges", "exceedingly"
In CATR there are a lot of American fillers such as
"They're nice AND ALL"
"Goddam autobiography OR ANYTHING
"He's my brother AND ALL"
Holden is a very bitter character and quite resentful to many people and things.
"It was a terrible school", "commit suicide or something" but his resentment is spared on one person: his history teacher.
" I was on my way to see my history teacher, I figured I wouldn't see him again." Holden is a troublemaker and has trouble applying himself to tasks.
He has a discipline problem, which has led to his expulsion from Pency Prep.
" I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn't supposed to come back after the Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all."
Were as Pip is quite a well manored young boy and very innocent he does not seem at all disturbed by the fact that his mother and father and 6 brothers are dead yet he conveys a young innocence,
"Pip sir"
"There sir"
"Yes sir" always being well monored even when faced with an escaped convict, this is very unlike the rebel Holden who thinks he has it bad but is well of compared to Pip
" I like to be somewhere at least were you can see a few girls around once in a while." One of Holdens biggest problems is not seeing any girls were as pips is the escaped convict that confronts him and threatens him. Pip is very calm when confronted by the convict and he even remembers to be polite when being threatened
" Now lookee here, the question being whether you're to be let live."
"Yes sir."
" And you know what whittles
is."
"Yes sir" The word lookee is a rare example of a colloquial word and whittles is slang and archaic Standard English "whittles is slang for "vittles" and "vittles" is an archaic word.
Were as Holden is a very bitter person who has a poor outlook on life, which is a typical/stereotypical American teenager which may or may not be intentional.
"Goddam manager", " goddam subway", "goddam check-ups and stuff"
The language in both is extremely different apart from the time difference there is a suggestion that the writers have chosen different writing styles and colloquial and archaic words used. They both convey the story very differently with different styles of writing
Salanger uses foul words to convey bitterness and resentment using words such as " crap", "as hell", "goddam." Where as Dickens portraits his character as a young and innocent boy he does this well when the convict appears he maintains politeness and he has had troubles living with his sister who beats him.
In conclusion the time difference when they were wrote is a mayjor factor in many of the differences but they both have very different writing styles which is a mayjor factor in the differences between them. G.E is written as if someone is looking back on events that have passed , were as in CATR it is like a big one sided conversation. So there are both differences and similarities in these two great books.
The main characters Holden (Catcher in the rye) and Philip Pirrip, referred to as pip because
" My fathers name being Pirrip and my Christian name being Philip my infant tongue could make no more of both names than pip, so I called …show more content…
myself pip and came to be called pip". "Christian" is an example of an archaic word as it is not in common use but it is Standard English. Pip is 7-8 years of age while Holden is 15-16.
G.E is set a long time ago while in CATR could be set in the modern day. In G.E the sentences are long but the paragraphs are relatively small, were as in CATR the sentence are more varied with many short sentences
"He's in Hollywood."
"He just got a jaguar."
"He didn't used to."
Also the opening paragraph is very long, 28 lines long were as in G.E it is very short, 4 lines in fact.
In CATR a lot of colloquial language is used such as "lousy", "crap", "goddam", "stuff". In G.E there are not many colloquial words used but there are a lot of archaic words such as "lozenges", "exceedingly"
In CATR there are a lot of American fillers such as
"They're nice AND ALL"
"Goddam autobiography OR ANYTHING
"He's my brother AND ALL"
Holden is a very bitter character and quite resentful to many people and things.
"It was a terrible school", "commit suicide or something" but his resentment is spared on one person: his history teacher.
" I was on my way to see my history teacher, I figured I wouldn't see him again." Holden is a troublemaker and has trouble applying himself to tasks.
He has a discipline problem, which has led to his expulsion from Pency Prep.
" I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn't supposed to come back after the Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all."
Were as Pip is quite a well manored young boy and very innocent he does not seem at all disturbed by the fact that his mother and father and 6 brothers are dead yet he conveys a young innocence,
"Pip sir"
"There sir"
"Yes sir" always being well monored even when faced with an escaped convict, this is very unlike the rebel Holden who thinks he has it bad but is well of compared to Pip
" I like to be somewhere at least were you can see a few girls around once in a while." One of Holdens biggest problems is not seeing any girls were as pips is the escaped convict that confronts him and threatens him. Pip is very calm when confronted by the convict and he even remembers to be polite when being threatened
" Now lookee here, the question being whether you're to be let live."
"Yes sir."
" And you know what whittles
is."
"Yes sir" The word lookee is a rare example of a colloquial word and whittles is slang and archaic Standard English "whittles is slang for "vittles" and "vittles" is an archaic word.
Were as Holden is a very bitter person who has a poor outlook on life, which is a typical/stereotypical American teenager which may or may not be intentional.
"Goddam manager", " goddam subway", "goddam check-ups and stuff"
The language in both is extremely different apart from the time difference there is a suggestion that the writers have chosen different writing styles and colloquial and archaic words used. They both convey the story very differently with different styles of writing
Salanger uses foul words to convey bitterness and resentment using words such as " crap", "as hell", "goddam." Where as Dickens portraits his character as a young and innocent boy he does this well when the convict appears he maintains politeness and he has had troubles living with his sister who beats him.
In conclusion the time difference when they were wrote is a mayjor factor in many of the differences but they both have very different writing styles which is a mayjor factor in the differences between them. G.E is written as if someone is looking back on events that have passed , were as in CATR it is like a big one sided conversation. So there are both differences and similarities in these two great books.