The story is written in Holden’s point of view, and is a retelling of his story. One thing the audience notices about his writing style is that he tends to have very long paragraphs. In the first paragraph of this passage, we get a detailed introduction of his life. We see that he begins introducing himself, but easily strays off topic by describing his brother, D.B’s book. His writing style is a clear indication that Holden is a person who has many thoughts and opinions, and will often express these critical opinions as soon as he thinks of them. This allows his personality to seem impatient, and shows us that he is a character that thinks a lot.
The tone that is created by Holden’s point of view is also clearly expressed. We can tell that he is very cynical and critical when he talks about his distaste for David Copperfield, and how “that stuff bores him”. This tone and opinion that he has towards David Copperfield reveals that he is highly critical towards things in life, and will often express his opinion towards what he does not like. The tone is further shown when he states that he doesn’t want to retell his “whole goddam biography”. We see that he is clearly annoyed about having to write his story.
Holden also writes with metaphors and similes. When he describes his brother, D.B. working in Hollywood, he says that D.B. is “being a prostitute”. By this line, the reader knows that Holden has a clear distaste for Hollywood and the celebrities living there, and that he is angry at his brother for writing movies instead of books. His anger towards Hollywood reveals to us that Holden dislikes phoniness, and that he dislikes people who do not act as their true selves - as actors do. Holden becomes a character who is cynical to anyone who fakes their own appearance, and the reader understands that Holden dislikes how so many people in the world are phony.
Holden frequently uses italics in his writing to express his annoyance and his sarcasm. Words like “nice”, “brother”, and “use” are all italicized to show the reader that Holden does not necessarily mean what he writes. When he says his parents are nice, he is really just saying that his parents may not have been mean, but they were not necessarily that nice or great. His sarcasm directed towards his parents reveals to the audience that he is annoyed at many things in life, and that he will express his hatred through sarcasm, a trait that sardonic people often possess.
A message that is clearly given in this passage is that Holden refuses to discuss his early childhood. The first two sentences of the passage tell the reader that Holden does not feel like telling his childhood, and only alludes to it as being “lousy”. This tells us that Holden either had a childhood that was insignificant, or that it was too hurtful for him to discuss to the reader. He also alludes to something catastrophic happening to him, and that had gotten “pretty run-down”. This tells us that Holden may no longer be in a stable mental state, and that his narration and telling of the story may be limited, and far from the truth.
One line that is frequently used in the novel and in this passage is “that killed me”. When Holden refers to something “killing” him, he is trying to describe something that is curiously funny that often makes Holden laugh. This tells us the reader that there are things in life that Holden likes, but when they do it often “kills” him with happiness. This shows that he is a character who does like things at times, and that his cynicism is limited by his ability to still find things in life with virtue.
The setting of the story plays a big part in Holden’s story, and he reveals that he is retelling his accounts of “last Christmas”. Holden lives in New York, and lives during the 1950s. This was a time of vast change, and the reader can see that Holden may not necessarily fit in. His hatred of the changing New York is stemmed from his hatred of change. Holden is a character who dislikes change, and wants things to stay as they are, to stay simple. He does not like the change youth must go through to mature, and would rather people all stay innocent and happy.
The opening passage of the story discloses to the audience the type of character Holden Caulfield is. J.D. Salinger cleverly uses Holden Caulfield’s voice in The Catcher in the Rye to express his anger towards the change in the world. In the first few lines of the novel, the reader already knows that Holden is a cynical and conflicted person. By writing though the voice of a conflicted adolescent, J.D. Salinger is able to achieve a connection with the reader, allowing the reader to believe in Holden’s story, and understand his problems.
