One thing that I have really enjoyed about Catcher in the Rye is the ways in which the narrative style is able to Break the wall between Holden and the reader. Typically, the narration in a novel is the platform upon which the story is laid. However, in Catcher, the words describing the event are part of the story. The unique qualities that Salinger gives Holden as a narrator are able to accomplish this.
The first of these comes in the first sentence of novel. You may have noticed it: the second person. The ‘you’ is never identified as someone listening (in the format of a frame narrative). Therefore, Holden is able to draw in the reader by developing a conversational tone. We also discussed in class about how this leads us to believe he likes us, providing a gratifying reading experience. This serves to make the narration important through a personal connection to the reader.
The next thing that Salinger uses to give us Holden’s character simply through narrating is his informal style, specifically the repetition that Holden uses. Paragraphs are not clearly thought out and two sentences are likely to repeat each other. This would generally be an annoying and immature writing style, but Salinger is able to pull this off as conversational and real, rather than paragraphs carefully constructed.
I am not sure how unique this point is to this book, but I really noticed when a character would say something and the narrator would be disgusted by the language used in the novel. For example, Sally says “‘I’d Love to. Grand.’” and holden tell us: “Grand. If there is one word I hate, it’s grand” (page 106). I was struck by how Salinger made his narrator hate his own word choice. This does a lot to pull the narrator away from the author, who is creating it. The fact that the story mocks itself is very powerful.
How did Holden’s voice make an impact for you?
