Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye Essay

Holden’s speech is often sarcastic, negative and dismissive to most people he encounters. Occasionally, we see glimpses of sensitivity, gentleness and compassion in his thoughts and observation of the few people he cares about.

The way he speaks gives us a clear insight into his character as we see both anger and contempt, but also his extreme vulnerability and sense of sadness and aloneness. Salinger’s use of Holden’s voice gives us a vivid and immediate sense of who Holden is. We feel as though we are in his head.

Throughout this book, Holden is constantly putting others down whether it be in his head or out loud. The way he speaks shows the reader that he doesn’t really want to be telling this story. In the first sentence of the book, he starts out by saying “ f you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my par...