The use of language in J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, is an upper-class boy who has gone from one private school to another, searching for -- something. He expresses his frustrations in language highly characteristic of adolescence; his extremely colloquial speech sounds just like that of teenagers today, even though Salinger's novel was written in the 1950s. But a particularly striking factor of Holden's narration is his frequent use of the words "phony" and "crazy", as well as his ongoing lapse into second person -- "you". These characteristics attain greater significance given Holden's desperate need to actually reach out and communicate with someone, anyone, who just might understand him.
The novel takes place in the two days following Holden's dismissal from his latest school, Pencey Prep. Much of this two-day period is spent either making or contemplating a huge number of assignations and phone calls, most of which are never made. Each of these represents an unsatisfied need to reach out, to affirm the validity of his place in the world at that moment and have it confirmed by the response of another person. In almost every case Holden holds back from really touching another person who could make a difference to him. In fact, his very name -- Holden -- may stand for this attitude of "holding", of keeping himself so close to the vest that he is unable to communicate with the people he so desperately needs.
Holden's first missed assignation is the night he leaves Pencey Prep, when he contemplates going down and saying hello to Stradlater's date Jane Gallagher, whom Holden himself likes. He doesn't, because he "isn't in the mood right now" -- an excuse that he will use more frequently as the book goes on. As he says, "You have to be in the mood for those things"(Salinger, 33). Who has to be in the mood, the reader?
In a very profound way, yes. Holden, throughout the book, uses the second person to try to convince us, his readers, of the validity of what he is saying. The novel is supposedly told to a psychiatrist, but after the first few pages we forget this; we feel as if Holden is talking to us directly, and bringing us into his world. For example, in describing his schoolmate Ackley, he says, "He wanted you to think he'd come in by mistake, for God's sake" (Salinger, 20). Obviously, Holden means that Ackley wanted him to think that; we aren't there. But by using the second person, Holden is trying to convince us that what happened to him could just as well have happened to any of us. His use of the second person makes his experiences universal.
Other expressions he uses frequently are "if you want to know the truth", and "if you know what I mean"; on page 93 he uses them in the same sentence. These are even more blatant attempts to enlist the reader's sympathy – to reassure himself that he and the reader are still on the same wavelength. D.P. Costello, cited on the internet, observes that through the use of such phrases Holden clarifies that the statement he's just made is, in fact the truth. The reason for this lies in his insecurity; he cannot feel too self-confident, given the fact that he keeps getting kicked out of prep school, and seems unable to make friends (Costello, cited in Catcher2.txt). There is literally no page in the entire novel where Holden does not use this type of approval-seeking expression to reaffirm our connection to his world.
This is extremely ironic, because it could easily be argued that the theme of Catcher in the Rye is the deep need which we all have as individuals to relate to one another, and the difficulty which adolescents have in doing that. Michael Bracewell notes that "There were no such beings as teenagers
-- in a cultural sense -- when Salinger created his adolescent hero of angst and ennui; there were boys and girls who had no more connection with the adult world than high schools had with a speakeasy" (Bracewell, 7). Adults didn't give a great deal of thought to growing up; it was just something that naturally happened to one as the years increased. Consequently, Holden has no one who really seems to understand what he's going through. He once had people he could talk to -- his brother Ally, his sister Phoebe, Jane Gallagher. But now Ally is dead, Phoebe is back in New York, and Jane and he no longer have that close bond, as he shows when he says he defers going downstairs to talk to her. Although not being "in the mood" to go talk to
Jane now is as close to an explanation as Holden can devise for his hesitation, his real problem is that Jane represents for him an ease of communication that he no longer feels with anyone.
Another expression Holden uses frequently is "phony"; in fact, according to Edward P.J. Corbett, Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times during the course of the novel (Corbett, cited in rye1.txt). Everything he encounters seems "phony" to him. He never really defines what he means by that term, because he doesn't really know; but it is clear that what seems "phony" to Holden is the absence of authentic life. Social activities and sports at school are not real; he does not find reality in the books he reads, and the girls he dates are generally so obsessed with putting on a front for him that they are not real either. At the same time, his life is packed with these activities, so much so that he seems to be suffering from a glut of sensation. But it is all neon, and plastic, and none of it -- real.
After he leaves Pencey Prep, he decides to call Jane Gallagher, but again defers because he isn't "in the mood"; i.e., he is afraid he would be unable to re-establish the old depth of intimacy they once enjoyed, and his memory of that intimacy is too precious to risk destroying it. After several other abortive phone calls, he succeeds in making a date with a girl named Sally Hayes. Like Jane, he's "known her for years," but unlike Jane, he isn't "too crazy about her" (Salinger, 105). Initially he is delighted to be in the presence of such an attractive girl. Several times during the chapter he says he "loves her" or wants to "marry her", but in every instance this is immediately followed by a characterization of himself or his feelings as "crazy". (Salinger, 125).
"Crazy," like "phony", is a favorite expression of Holden's, and although we are tempted to consider it simply a dismissive adjective, there is real meaning behind it. He uses it in three distinct senses: to indicate fondness, as in, "I'm not crazy about her"; to indicate confusion, as in "I must be crazy"; or to indicate something that makes no logical sense, as in "the Paramount or the Astor... or one of those crazy places". In this final sense, it is not the movie theater which is crazy, but the depressing world situation which requires people to find their enjoyment in fantasy. Holden's word choice indicates that he at least subconsciously realizes that his surroundings are crazy, but he is not; and in his case this is actually a very mature observation.
In any case, Holden isn't crazy; he's young. The date with Sally is a fiasco because there is no foundation on which to base this lovely gossamer construction. Ultimately, Holden goes to see his younger sister Phoebe, who has been his real goal all along. Aside from the fact that she is angry over his dismissal from school -- like Holden, she does not understand why he keeps getting himself thrown out -- their conversation is the first productive one he has had since the beginning of the novel.
He pours out his entire story of his problems with school and his disenchantment with life, and Phoebe astutely notes that he doesn't like anything. She's hit the nail on the head. Holden is so caught up in what is wrong with everything that he doesn't know what's right; he knows absolutely what he doesn't want to be, but he has no idea what he does want to be. Pressed by Phoebe, he finally concludes that he wants to be "The Catcher in the Rye." "I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around -- nobody big, I mean -- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff -- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them... I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be" (Salinger, 173).
In other words, he wants to prevent what is happening to him from happening to anyone else -- a very worthy goal. As Eric Lomazoff notes, "In essence, Holden Caulfield is a good guy stuck in a bad world. He is trying to make the best of his life, though ultimately losing that battle. Whereas he aims at stability and truth, the adult world cannot survive without suspense and lies. It is a testament to his innocence and decent spirit that Holden would place the safety and well-being of children as a goal in his lifetime. This serves to only reiterate the fact that Holden is a sympathetic character, a person of high moral values who is too weak to pick himself up from a difficult situation" (Salinger1.htm). But in his desire to put a fence around childhood, to preserve it from tarnishing prematurely, Holden ironically will need to learn to reach out beyond the fence he has put around himself. What's more, through Holden's use of the second person, he has succeeded in establishing a contact with the reader as well. Jerome Weeks notes that "Mr. Salinger's great achievement . . . was taking on the voice of a young boy, slangy, smart and painfully honest with himself and the `phony' society around him -- and using that voice deftly, sympathetically, to speak of the central crisis of adolescence: growing up, opting out, fitting in" (Weeks, 1C). We've all been there; we all know what it's like; and we enter Holden's world gratefully because we sense in him someone who understands us as well. The passage of adolescence has served as the central theme for many novels, but J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, long a staple in academic lesson plans, has captured the spirit of this stage of life in hyper-sensitive form, dramatizing Holden Caulfield's vulgar language and melodramatic reactions. Written as the autobiographical account of a fictional teenage prep school student Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye deals with material that is socially scandalous for the times (Gwynn, 1958). As an emotional, intelligent, inquisitive, and painfully sensitive young man, Holden puts his inner world to the test through the sexual mores of his peers and elders, the teachings of his education, and his own emerging sense of self. Throughout the years, the language of the story has startled some readers. Salinger's control of Holden's easy, conversational manner makes the introduction of these larger themes appear natural and believable. (Bloom, 1990). At the time of the novel through today, Holden's speech rings true to the colloquial speech of teenagers. Holden, according to many reviews in the Chicago Tribune, the New Yorker, and the New York Times, accurately captures the informal speech of an average intelligent, educated, northeastern American adolescent (Costello, 1990). Such speech includes both simple description and cursing. For example, Holden says, "They're nice and all", as well as "I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything." In the first instance, he uses the term "nice" which oversimplifies his parents' character, implying he does not wish to disrespect them, yet at the same time he does not praise them. At best he deems them as "nice and all." Holden further cuts short his description, but in a more curt manner, when he states he will not tell his "whole goddam autobiography or anything." From the start the reader picks up Holden's hostility and unwillingness to share his views strictly by his use of language (Salzman, 1991). From the last two examples, another colloquialism can be seen. Holden has a habit of ending his descriptions with tag phrases such as "and all" or "or anything." (Salzman, 1991). Not only does Holden speak like this in the beginning of the novel, but throughout the book, making this pattern a part of his character. One could imagine Holden frequently ending his sentences with "and all," realizing it is a character trait since not all teenagers used that phrase. So the "and all" tag to Holden's speech served to make his speech authentic and individual. (Salzman, 1991). Salinger intentionally used such speech patterns to help individualize Holden, yet to also make him a believable teenager of the early 1950's. Another example of how Holden's speech helped define his character is how he constantly had to confirm any affirmation he made, as if even he did not quite believe himself. Such reconfirmations include phrases such as "...if you want to know the truth," or "...it really does." Holden says the first phrase several times. "I have no wind, if you want to know the truth," "I'm pacifist, if you want to know the truth," and a variation: "She had a lot of sex appeal, too, if you really want to know." In each of the above instances, Holden makes a statement then feels compelled to clarify that is he is not making it up but is, in fact, telling the truth. These mannerisms may point to several aspects of his character. For example, Holden is on the verge of failing out of preparatory school and fears telling his parents. Because he did not do well in school, Holden may have felt as though no one ever took him seriously and realized his actions left him with no solid academic standing. Since Holden is essentially a failure at school with no serious friendships, he attempts to solidify some communication in asking for approval by stating if you want to know the truth." Holden wants people to believe him so he speaks to seek approval (Costello, 1990). Again, Salinger creates this speech pattern as believable for a common teenager, yet it also seems to belong individually to Holden. The Catcher in the Rye gained much of its notoriety for the language used in it, particularly the crude words (Gwynn, 1958). Like most colloquial uses of body parts, accidents of birth, or religious connotations, Holden does not strictly make use of words in reference to their original meaning. The word "hell" is a staple of Holden's vocabulary, and he uses it often with both positive and negative connotations. In one instance, he tells us he had a "helluva time," when he and Phoebe sneaked away and had a good time shopping for shoes downtown. Other statements include "pretty as hell," "playful as hell," or "hot as hell." Holden's perception that situations were anything but normal in some relation to the extremes of the usage of "hell" is applied to both positive and negative situations. In each use of the word, Holden uses "hell" as a way to expresses the confusion of adolescence and his own regular use of it illustrates his own extreme sensitivity as a character (Gwynn, 1958). As Holden's experiences change, so does his use of crude language. When he is caught up in his own antics and is enraged, "sonuvabitch" and "bastard" frequently find their way into his vocabulary. However, when he addresses the reader as a narrator, Holden rarely, if ever, slips into his habitual use of swearing (Costello, 1990). "Sonuvabitch" is reserved for his extreme anger, as when he kept calling Stradlater a "moron sonuvabitch" for the boy's ostensibly offensive treatment of Jane Gallagher. Again, Holden's sporadic use of "sonuvabitch" in his angriest moments alerts the reader to the serious quality of his anger. Salinger carefully crafted such speech patterns to help us identify Holden's character without lengthy descriptions of such. Here, the offending words lets the reader know when Holden is most angry and the types of situations that make him so, thereby offering further insight into his character, often through the use of a single word. Holden's regular use of curse words to describe his view of any given situation leaves the impression his vocabulary is limited, as observed in one much younger than himself. However, Holden recognizes that he has a limited vocabulary and uncomprehendingly identifies it himself (Salzman, 1991). He makes use of cursing in an effort to add emphasis to his otherwise simplistic verbiage. For example, Holden says "That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat" (Salinger, 1951). The best reference Holden could think of was "toilet seat," a simple item readily grasped by even young children. To give this simile more emphasis, Holden, as usual, tosses in a curse word. Holden makes another toilet-like reference when he says "He started handling my paper like it was a turd or something," (Salinger, 1951) when referring to his teacher's expressions and body language while picking up some written work Holden had done. "Turd" is a word a recently potty-trained child might use instead of a prep school teen. So Holden not only admits to having a limited vocabulary, but he has a vocabulary seemingly limited to one even younger than his age. Holden's regular use of cursing demonstates not only the depth of his emotion, but signals the reader to the fact that he is caught in the stage where childhood and approaching maturity collide. He relates poorly to instances other than those from his early youth, and tries in vain to bridge the gap between adolescent and adult worlds with his use of profanity. He fails to notice that his cursing loses much of his intended rebellious impact by his overuse of the words. Rather than successfully rebelling against school or his parents, Holden appears sometimes tortured and pathetic, and sometimes just plain silly. This superficiality of youth leaves him with little ability to communicate because he relies so heavily on simple words and thoughts to express the majority of his feelings. While Holden's teenage angst is apparent, Salinger carefully crafted Holden's vocabulary to create a character who is believable. As Holden's vocabulary and outlook on life demonstrate to us his character as a fictional persona, the realistic flavor of his vocabulary mixed with emotion unfailingly ties him with the harsh realities of adolescence and the youth of his time.