Five aspects of writing voice assignment

Catcher in the Rye

Kyle Smith

They offer surprising information and observations

Salinger uses this scene on page 182-185 to display an argument that is brewing between Holden and his disappointed sister. During this argument you hear Holdens sister repeatedly mention how their father if going to kill Holden.  In response to this Holden says how he’s going to be fine and how his dad won’t do anything to him. But his sister is not convinced. Holden surprises the audience when he reveals his big plans to leave new York and work far away in a Colorado ranch to avoid the wrath of his father. “ I What i may do, I may get a job on a ranch or something for awhile. I know this guy whose grandfather’s got a ranch in Colorado.” (Salinger 183)

They often employ techniques of narrative

While the scene is happening you see multiple parts of imagery, especially when you see Holdens sister Phoebe covering her face with a pillow in disgust towards Holden getting kicked out of his school. “ Then she flopped on her stomach on the bed and put the goddam pillow over her head.”(Salinger 182) Or when Holden leaves to get cigarettes.

A very powerful example of a vignette in chapter 15 is Holden and his stance on suitcases. In Holdens eyes, its hard to be friends with people when their suitcase isn't as nice as yours. "The thing is, its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs-if yours are really good ones and theirs are not." It kind of envokes this feeling of separation or superiority from Holdens perspective. He references Stradlater when he expresses his opinions about people with lesser suitcases and feels that they're just not as good or worthy as him.

Blog option 2

Kyle Smith

In chapter 10 of Catcher in the Rye Holden shows even more complexity than shown in chapters prior to this one.  Holdens character shows this in instances such as when he shows his intelligence not necessarily in a school smart type way but more of a street smart when he goes into the hotel bar and talks about his seat. “… but they gave me a lousy table anyway-way in the back. I should’ve waved a buck under the head waiter’s nose. In New York, boy, money really talks-I’m not kidding.” Holden is all alone and knows how to survive and what he needs to do in order to do so. Also Holden does not let his sensitivity get the better of him, but he shows  an exceptional amount of patience, like when he dances with the first of the 3 girls and he’s constantly asking her all these questions and he gets ignored by her entirely. “She wasn’t listening to me, even. Her mind was all over the place.” Thoreau talked about living a deliberate life and one with purpose and that’s what Holden does, he dances with strangers to a live band, treats himself like a man, lives on his own, and lives a simple life.