In The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger writes a very insightful first person narrative through the eyes of 16 year old Holden Caulfield. You can tell that a lot of the author's views on people and the society around them, by what Holden tells us in the novel. The best example of this is how Holden uses the phrase, "Phony". Throughout the novel, Holden uses this term to describe the falseness or just the differences of the people around him. "The worst part was, the jerk had one of those very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tired, snobby voices" (Salinger 128). Holden makes the assumption that someone or something is phony upon meeting them without any cause. You can tell that the author believes that some people in society are fake, or "phony" because Holden uses this term so much. Salinger also could also think that "phony" could mean just stereotypical. Holden calls the majority of the kids at Pencey "phony" because they are the typical prep school boys, athletic, popular, and smart. The author could share the same views about people that Holden shares.
The author also shows his views on how difficult it is for a teenager to find his or her own way in the world. Holden does not really know himself, and does not really have any idea about what the rest of his life is like. Possibly when Salinger was a teenager he had some trouble transitioning from the world of childhood to the world of adulthood, and used his experiences to inspire the character of Holden. The author could think that in order to transition to the world adulthood, the teenager need to go on a "journey" to find out who they are. This is exactly what Holden starts out to do. The entire book takes place over a few days, and Holden learns quite a bit about himself. At the end of the book it is reveled that Holden is just looking back on these experiences from hopefully a better place in his life.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment