There are many ways that Holdens society reflects satire. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger satirizes Holdens society using sarcasm and irony.
Rocha 1
Rocha, Oscar
Honors English ¾
Ms. Cowley
9 November, 2010
The Catcher in the Rye
There are many ways that Holden’s society reflects satire. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger satirizes Holden’s society using sarcasm and irony. Holden shows how his society could be negative.
Holden uses sarcasm to satirize society. For example Holden finds it disrespectful for the men carrying the Christmas tree to say “Hold the sonuvabitch up! Hold it up for Chrissake!”(196). Holden sarcastically responds “It was a gorgeous way to talk about the Christmas tree (196). This shows that Holden exaggerates because of his anger. Holden thought that the men were very disrespectful because they took gods name in vein and that is a vey big sin. In addition Holden calls Ackley a Prince because of his lack of values, “I just want to thank you for being such a goddam prince.”(50). Holden shows exaggeration because he wanted someone to talk to but Ackley was ignorant and insensitive. Holden was being very sincere when he told Ackley he was a prince. A final example is when Holden says that Morrow is a very sensitive boy, “That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat.”(55) Holden exaggerates because he
