Catcher in the Rye

In Catcher in the Rye there is many examples of author’s voice. In this small section there are many as well. One I found is the author uses sentence structure in a unique way to capture the attention of the audience. The structure I am speaking of is unique to this excerpt. First Phoebe will say “daddy’ll kill you” and then holden will come back with a response that denies that his dad will kill him just be mad for a little bit and then he will be over it. Then he tries to change the subject and move away from it but his sister always starts it back up with “daddy’ll kill you”. An example of Holden trying to avoid it is, “”No he won’t. The worst he’ll do, he’ll give me hell again, then he’ll send me to that goddam military school. That’s all he’ll do to me. And in the first place, I won’t even be around. I’ll be away. I’ll be—I’ll probably be in Colorado on this ranch.”

            “Don’t make me laugh. You can’t even ride a horse.”

            “Who can’t? Sure I can. Certainly I can. They can teach you in about two minutes,” I said. “Stop picking at that.” She was picking at that adhesive tape on her arm. “Who gave you that haircut?” I Asked her. I just noticed what a stupid haircut somebody had gave her. It was way too short.”

Another example of author’s voice is by encouraging the readers to want to know more. The more Phoebe seemed to pry at if he had flunked out and that her dad would be mad, the madder Holden seemed to get and you kept reading to see if he would snap. You can feel his anger escalate when he says, “Nobody’s gonna kill me. Use your head. In the first place, I’m going away.” Here you can feel him becoming heated and so he just starts blurting things and with this bubbling anger you wanted to see what the outcome would be.

My final example of author’s voice is the way the character thinks. Holden has a very interesting way of thinking and when he describes what is happening and what he thinks or how he feels about a subject it makes you very interested. It’s also nice to know what his thoughts on a subject are since he is usually very aggressive. He either complements things or can be very negative. An example of this is when Phoebe first thinks that he may have been kicked out of Pency and his thoughts on her knowledge.

“How come you’re not home Wednesday?...

Wasn’t able to finish

Catcher In The Rye Blog Post #2

The vignette I found from Catcher In The Rye was invoked by seeing nuns that had low quality suitcases. The memory brought up was of a time when he went to a different school before Pency. His roommate had cheap suitcases and he judged him for this and it made him feel bad. Holden said "It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get to hate somebody, just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases with them." Here you can feel him expressing powerful emotions and almost a personal fault by judging people before he actually knew them. I feel that Holden expressing his personal feelings really gives you the insightful look to who he is and how his brain works. I think that it makes you almost like a him a little less at first because he sounds rather judgmental but then you appreciate him for being honest.