Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Catcher in the Rye- Required #5

There are a few things that this novel does that gives away around what time this was written, or that at least this was not written currently in the times of the new millennium. There are not that many, though, so hopefully 325 words come up!

The first thing that I would like to discuss would be the dialogue. A word that Holden uses a lot is "phony" or "phonies". I am pretty sure Holden probably uses this more than other people, but I think it was still an adjective that was used back then and I haven't heard people say it around this time (though, I am thinking about bringing it back! wish me luck!) Also, they still used the word gay as meaning happy and joyful. Now, that term is not used so much for that purpose if you haven't noticed...

Another thing would be the lack of cell phones and ipods and things like that. Whenever Holden went to New York, he had or wanted to call some people to talk to and hang out with. The thing, though, is that he had to use a payphone. People today would just use their cell phones or maybe other people's cell phones, but obviously they did not have them back then. I also feel like if Holden grew up in this time, he would probably have an ipod that he would be listening to whenever he was walking around New York.

I feel like this book has a lot of symbols. It seems to talk a lot about childhood and has some nostalgic purposes, which is explained a lot when Holden was on his way to the museum. (I know, I'm bringing that up again) I feel that the museum is a symbol of childhood, innocence, and nostalgia. Also, the book title is saying how Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye which is explained in the book, so that is another symbol. This book has a bunch of little things like that!


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

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