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?
It's funny that you say Holden/Salinger encourages us to sneer at "his own word choice" when he has Sally say "grand" (a word he's already on record as "hating" earlier in the novel). The obvious rejoinder would be to say that it's *Sally* who uses the word, and he's just reacting. But, of course, he's in control of what words she uses, and this whole idea of a "reaction" is constructed. It's akin to when he smugly notes "I told you she'd go nuts when she found out it was the Lunts"--it makes Holden seem all prescient, and Sally predictable, but in fact he's setting her up for this punch line all along. It is a powerful effect, which bolsters Holden's authority as narrator (he's "right" that these other people are predictable, etc.), and it's easy to miss the trick he's playing here.
ReplyDeleteHolden's voice makes an impact in the simple way that it makes the novel much easier, and frankly more enjoyable to read. I'm tired of the english assigned readings that are just banging through dusty old styles. I haven't looked through any of the readings we haven't started for this class, but The Bell Jar thankfully seems to have continued this. May all english classes in the future assign readings of this style.
ReplyDeleteHolden's voice definitely made me like the book much more. It made it like hearing a friend telling me a story instead of reading a formal report on some event. I also really enjoyed writing the pastiche-y thing using that same voice, because it was just a lot of fun to tap into Holden's unique and likable personality.
ReplyDeleteYeah I totally agree. Holden's narration kind of drew me into his story. The whole second person narration made me feel like Holden really liked me and wanted me to know what he was really thinking. Like Tim said it is like talking to a friend rather than just having an event described.
ReplyDeleteHolden's voice made me feel as though we were having a conversation rather than I was reading a book. It made me more drawn to the story, but also him as character and I constantly felt myself rooting for his well-being throughout the novel. I admired his quirks and found his voice especially contagious, like when he would say "it killed me." I also thought when you said that "the story mocks itself is very powerful" was particularly true, but something I hadn't thought of before. It makes it much easier to read something when its making fun of itself along the way.
ReplyDeleteHolden creates a connection with the reader within the first page. He often times addresses the reader directly and this along with his conversational tone makes a lot of the internal monologue feel more personal. This tone was a large part of the reason that I enjoyed this book.
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