Catcher In The Rye- Use Of Lan

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

they had me" or "…they’re nice and all." But many times there is no significance at all to the expressions as in "…was in the Revolutionary War and all," "It was December and all" and "…no gloves or anything." (Salinger 5-7)
Holden has many expressions which appear consistently throughout the novel. Some places, the expressions only serve to make Holden more realistic, other places Holden is trying to reinforce his values. Holden repeatedly comments on his hatred toward phonies. That is one thing that Holden hates more than almost anything. That could be the reason he frequently confirms a statement with "I really do," "It really does," or "if you want to know the truth." He also confirms comments by repeating them twice like "She likes me a lot. I mean she’s quite fond of me." (Salinger 141) or "He was a very nervous guy- I mean a very nervous guy." (Salinger 165) He uses different phrases and styles to give a more factual backing to his comments, thus preventing himself ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

appearance of "goddam." While the words Holden uses may not be proper he is not trying to be sacrilegious. Salinger is merely using the language to make Holden seem like a normal teenager and also to reflect Holden’s state of mind.
A popular word in Holden’s youth was "crap." It was a word that could be inserted into any part of a sentence, just as Holden did. He used it to mean a dirty substance "I spilled some crap all over my gray flannel," or miscellaneous items "I was putting in my galoshes and crap." He also used it to mean something undesirable "The show was on the crappy side." Holden also used a couple phrases like "shoot the crap," and "chuck the crap" to mean chit-chat. ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: