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Examples Of Coming Of Age In Catcher In The Rye

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Devin Sushil The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age story with the overall purpose of providing a coming of age story that allows the audience, typically teenagers, to relate with the universal themes of growing up and fearing adulthood. Evidentially the authors tone, conveyed through Holden, is cynical, sarcastic and critical. Over the three day period that the events in New York occur, the narration by Holden allows him to be characterized by his innermost thoughts and feelings. The word choice of the author portrays Holden’s struggle in growing up. Throughout the novel, there are several examples of words and phrases that allow the author to characterize Holden. Often the author includes Holden using phrases like “and all” and “or anything” …show more content…

When words such as "ass" are used by the author in Holden’s dialogue, Holden's characterization of an immature youth is emphasized. The word is merely a part of the teenage vernacular for the part of the human anatomy; however, the author indicates Holden using this word to convey Holden’s bigger ideas. For example, when Salinger included " in a half ass way"(6) he illustrates that Holden believes there is incompetency in the particular situation. Other diction that the author incorporated includes numerous words that are religious but aren’t used in the correct context. Salinger displays Holden saying "hell" to mean "to a great extent" when describing something: "I had a helluva time convincing her"(77) or "old as hell"(7). The author additionally uses swearing when Holden casually refers to his "goddam hunting cap" or saying somebody is a "goddam moron". The excessive swearing used by Salinger stresses Holden's immaturity and his anxiety building toward crisis. While the words Holden uses may not be proper he is not trying to be sacrilegious. Salinger is simply using the language to make Holden seem like a normal teenager and to reflect Holden's state of

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