"The story it tells is episodic, inconclusive and largely made up of trivial events. The language used is, by normal literary standards, very impoverished" (5) How far do you agree with this statement?

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Grant Allsopp 8102        Ise Community College        English A2

“The story it tells is episodic, inconclusive and largely made up of trivial events. The language used is, by normal literary standards, very impoverished” (5)

How far do you agree with this statement?

This statement suggests that “The Catcher in the Rye” is episodic in structure and the plot is inconclusive and made up of trivial events. The language is also described as impoverished. I think that this statement is extremely unfair; although the points may have some truth they make the novel realistic and easily related to. The book is about the protagonist Holden Caulfield narrating in the first person, describing what he himself sees and experiences and providing his own commentary on events and people.

The novel is quite clearly episodic in structure; it is split up into chapters which could be seen as small episodes in the life of the teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield is recalling events from the past, in each chapter something new happens in his life. This is a very simple but effective structure of a novel; Salinger uses Holden to tell the story for himself in a colloquial and direct way to the reader. In the statement the episodic structure is seen as a bad point about the novel but it could also be seen to give the novel its deeper meaning. This deeper meaning is that it makes the novel realistic, this is because life is episodic being split up into hours or days, in each hour or day something new and different happens much like in every chapter in the novel. So the novel becomes a lot easier to follow and relate to.

“First person narrative that centres around a single individual whose loosely strung escapades are connected by the fact that they are events in the life of the protagonist and develops the same theme of loneliness and isolation.”(1) The people that Holden meets try to help him overcome these feeling but he always rejects their help leading to his breakdown. Hence, the meaning is that Holden could prevent his breakdown but decides to be alone most of the time, rejecting help from others. The novel is also seen as “A coming of age story about a teenage boy who just isn't quite sure where he belongs or how to please the people around him while rebelling against that very notion.”(2) Holden’s coming of age begins when he leaves his school Pency Prep and goes to New York on his own. The story finally comes to a conclusion in Central Park in New York. This is another splitting up of the book into large episodes. As Holden goes from one place to another he develops mentally and becomes a new person. The whole way through is a realisation for Holden that he may not be as mature as he likes to think, he is not ready for the adulthood which he chooses to mock.

In the statement the novel is also described as inconclusive. To a certain extent this can be agreed with. It could be said that he goes from place to place and meeting different people, not learning anything a long the way. This can also be agreed with as the novel does not actually come to a specific conclusion which may have been promised in the beginning, "I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy."(Page 1) Holden does tell us about what happened but the reader expects a lot more detail and a thorough conclusion. Instead Holden starts on his own, ends every chapter on his own and even at the end he is on his own on a bench, making the novel inconclusive.

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On the other hand, the novel can be seen as quite conclusive as although we do not get a specific conclusion, we have to think for ourselves. “Holden’s escapades are not so much adventures as ‘misadventures’, the cumulative effect of which leads him to a sanatorium… Holden the narrator, as opposed to Holden the picaresque hero, realizes his own failings from a retrospective stance.”(1) If we look at the deeper meaning, Holden actually learns something about himself and the world. The novel is about Holden’s coming of age and his mental deterioration over a few days. He is also learning ...

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