Literature Analysis #2

The Cather in the Rye By J. D. Salinger

GENERAL
1.Brief summary.
The Catcher in the Rye is a story of a boy named Holden who has many troubled and difficult times in his life. He goes to a prep school which he hates and has many confusing thoughts about the people there. He has very strong for a girl named Jane who his roommate is dating. He becomes furious with his roommate and gets into a huge fight. He then decides to leave the school and live in New York and live his life on his own. He goes to New York and first feels alone and decides to go to gentlemen's clubs where he can pass as an older man because of his gray hair. He runs into many troubles in New York in finding himself and ends of having many confrontations with his family in order to be reaccepted.

2.Describe the theme.
The main theme in the book Catcher in the Rye is the pain in growing up. Holden doesn't want to grow up and shows that in many things he leaves the prep school so that he could try and grow up more. But as he learns the troubles of being a man while growing up in New York he finds that he doesn't want to grow up. He lives and constantly parties which shows how he never wants to grow up.

3.Describe author's tone.
The tone in Catcher in the Rye is very relaxed at times and also very serious. When Holden gets into a heated argument with his roommate and later into a brawl with him to the tone is very serious. It's also serious when he goes to talk to his younger sister he also has a serious tone.

CHARACTERIZATION
1.Direct and Indirect characterization
The author doesn't really use direct characterization, for any of the main characters throughout the book but he does use it when describing minor characters such as the stripper and the pimp and roomates. He uses indirect because the entire story is based around something much bigger than a characters appearance.


2. Diction/Syntax
The story definitely changes as Steinbeck changes his diction and syntax. He just changes character points of view throughout the story.

3.Static/Dynamic
 Holden is a static character throughout the book and never really changes his opinion about how society is messed up and how unfair things are. He wants to become a catcher in the rye which metaphorically means he wants to stop the youth from growing up and getting "brainwashed" by society

4.After reading the book did you come away feeling you'd met a person or character?
I can say that, yes, i feel i got to know Holden. He reminds me of me in a lot of ways and overall i can relate to most of his way of thinking.