Use of Literary Elements
There are many important elements to The Catcher in the Rye but there are two that stand out from the rest by a great margin. These elements of the novel are the message that the book gives to reader as well as the style of writing that J.D. Salinger uses while writing the book. The messages can be seen clearly and are very important to the book, but they are not an original theme for a book. What does set the ideas in this book apart from other books with the same theme is the writing style that Salinger uses in the book; this writing style is called stream of consciousness writing. Stream of consciousness writing is a type of writing that is not typically used in books because of its well defined limits. These limits are that when using stream of consciousness narration, the story line is required to revolve around one and only one main character if the writing is to be effective. With S. of C. writing it is also required that the author develop the main character extremely well into a very believable person both emotionally and physically through thoughts and actions. To write an effective book in this writing style an author must be exceptionally talented, and thankfully Mr. Salinger is just that.
The final literary tool that is important to the story that Salinger does well in The Catcher in the Rye is the development of characters. Throughout the story Mr. Salinger is constantly developing Holden just as you would get to know him if you were meeting him. The extreme development bordering on overdevelopment is good though because the story revolves around Holden and Holden only. Many critics of Salinger say that he underdevelops the other characters in The Catcher in the Rye but I believe he does this purposely. If Salinger were to develop characters like Phoebe, and Sally as well as he does Holden the point of the story would have been lost. The story is being told by Holden from a mental institution so obviously he is going to be the center of the story because all people are selfish if they are given the opportunity. The different levels that people are developed, I believe, are also indicators of the different levels of respect that Holden has for people. If you look at people he held in great respect, for good or bad reasons, they are usually developed reasonably well like Phoebe, Allie, and Sally. People that Holden did not respect though were developed in almost no detail which indicated that they made no real impact on him and therefore had no real relevance in the story. Another good use of of how the stream of consciousness writing style is used as literary tool is with in the thoughts of Holden. In The Catcher in the Rye
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 978
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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