Maya Sammane

Ms. Smit
12 AP
13 October 2014
Catcher in the Rye Formal Essay
The manner in which a character describes events and thoughts in a text has more to do
with his mental state and opinions than readers may perceive. If a character spends a long time
pondering or talking about one specific subject in great detail, it may be because it captivates the
character or because the character is very fond of the subject. If a character is not outspoken
about a subject, and talks in short, choppy sentences without much to say, it may be because he
is uncomfortable with the given situation. Even the connotation of the words that the character
uses can reveal what the character truly thinks about the topic at hand.
In Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger utilizes word choice and syntax to show his readers,
without explicitly stating it, how Holden feels about what goes on in his day-to-day life.
Specifically, when Holden talks about his beloved brother, Allie, Salingers use of positively
connoted diction and rich/extensive detail reveals that when Allie was alive, he had a positive
influence on Holden. The use of these two literary devices in turn reveals how even after Allie
dies, Holden still holds his brother close to his heart.
Holden Caulfield is notorious for having a cynical outlook on life. Whenever he gets the
chance, he takes it to call anybody out on being a phony because he does not like what he sees.
Rarely does Holden ever say what he likes about somebody; however, Holden does spend some
time talking about how much Allie means to him. In one scene of Catcher in the Rye, Holden is
forced to write a paper for his roommate Stradlaters English class, and Holden must describe
one object with substantial detail. The first item he thinks of is his brother Allies baseball mitt.
Holden talks about why the mitt was so important to Allie, and he then goes off on a tangent
about what a remarkable person Allie used to be in the eyes of all people who knew him. Holden
refers to his brother as being terrifically intelligent and even being the most intelligent
member of the family (Salinger 38). This says a lot about Allies crucial impact on Holden as a
person, because Holden seldom attempts to point out the good in people, but he does make this
attempt for Allie. In a different portion of this selection, Holden highlights yet another optimistic
opinion about his brother: Holden says, He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got
mad at anybody (38). The use of pleasant sounding words such as nicest, terrifically, and
intelligent are Salingers way of showing readers that it is significant how Holden is capable of
seeing the good traits of people around him as a result of Allies positive influence.
In conjunction with the use of pleasant-sounding diction, Salinger utilizes long sentence
and paragraph structure to form a contrast between Holdens usual dialogue and his dialogue
when discussing Allie. When viewing the section that focuses on Holden talking about Allie, it
can be seen that the entire section is a part of one full paragraph, and that no breaks or spaces are
put in between Holdens thoughts. This emits the feeling that Holden is having successive,
uninterrupted thoughts about his brother because the topic brings back numerous enjoyable
memories. Another facet of this section that demonstrates the impact Allie has on Holden is how
Holden goes off on long tangents describing nuances about his brothers character. Holden goes
into great detail when describing what kind of red hair Allie has, and how one can see his hair
from far distances and immediately recognize Allie. The fact that Holden repeatedly wanders off
to talk about Allies little quirks shows how fascinated Holden is with Allie and how Allie still
has a place in Holdens heart. Even after Allies death, Holden can still be found thinking deeply
about his brothers unique traits, which is shown by the large extent of description and the
pattern of long sentences in one large paragraph.
Salinger successfully demonstrates how Allie is an important figure in Holdens life by
showing this love through Holdens expressiveness in casual discourse. Holden talks about Allie
with pleasing words as if Allie is up on some high pedestal, under a bright light where only his
positive features can be seen. Holden also spends time describing Allies admirable quirks by
using one long paragraph with his continuous, consecutive thoughts. Salinger shows how the use
of description and connotation of word choice can reveal more about a character than a character
explicitly says about himself.
Works Cited
Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye. New York City: Little, Brown and Company, 1951.
Print.