Catcher In The Rye Diction Analysis

First person narrative pieces may be the least objective accounts that one may encounter. It is almost impossible to expect the person participating in the story – the person emotionally attached to the characters in the story – to give an impartial account of the events occurring. Because of this, it is imperative that readers observe patterns in the diction that the narrator uses so that they may infer details about the story that the narrator chooses not to include. A specific example of the advantage of adopting this technique is in Holden Caulfield’s narrative of his life in the book The Catcher in the Rye. In this account, Holden’s use of diction allows the reader to understand his life in more depth than he explicitly provides. Patterns …show more content…
These patterns are evident throughout the entire book, however they are particularly obvious when Holden comes in contact with people who are more successful than him. Holden feels threatened by the academic and social success of those around him, so he resorts to name calling to devalue their success, and, in turn, make himself feel better about his situation. This behavior occurs many times, one of which being when Holden is at a bar alone and he notices the bar is filled with Ivy League students. Once he notices them, Holden immediately mentions how “All of those Ivy League bastards look alike. My father wants me to go to Yale, or maybe Princeton, but I swear, I wouldn’t go to one of those Ivy League Colleges, if I was dying, for God’s sake” (85). Holden instantaneously classifies the Ivy League students as “bastards”, and even goes on to say that he wouldn’t want to be in one of the most prestigious schools in the countries if he was dying. Not only is Holden devaluing the success of Ivy League students by demeaning them to a “bastard”, he is also providing an excuse for not attending an Ivy League. Realistically, Holden would be unable to attend an Ivy League school, considering he has flunked out of multiple school. However, instead of addressing the problem, Holden merely disregards the problems with his underachieving academic life, saying …show more content…
It may be observed that there are multiple occasions in which Holden repeats words or phrases that contradict what the other person is saying to him or about him. He does this in order to instill his point of view in the readers mind. Holden first employs this technique during the opening chapters of the book. Holden is describing his roommate; a handsome, relatively successful Pencey senior. While describing him, Holden is adamant about mentioning his grooming habits, explaining that his roommate, Stradlater, was a “secret slob” who looked good but did not have clean habits (27). Holden mentions Stradlater’s grooming habits on multiple occasions over the next few pages, one of which being immediacy following his description of Stradlater’s hair. “He was finished combing his goddamn gorgeous hair,” Holden says, “He was putting away all his crumby toilet articles” (33). Holden does this in an attempt to devalue Stradlater’s appearances’ by trying to convince the reader that Stradlater is as a slob. The use of this technique reveals an underlying insecurity that Holden has about his physical appearances, as he feels threatened by Stradlater and, as a result, attempts to devalue his appearance. Holden also tries to impose his point of view on the reader when he is arguing with his date, Sally. During the argument, Sally tells Holden to “stop yelling” (132). Instead of