Literary+Elements

​ ERJOLA Research all that you can about the literary elements used in the novel and give examples of the following: **foreshadowing**, imagery, Salinger's use of metaphor, **symbolism**, **setting** (this one should be easy!), **irony**, **tone**, **point of view**, **conflict** and **theme**. You can use what we've discussed in class, cite quotations from the novel and create links from other sources to support your position. Double bonus points if you can use some of the new terms, I introduce to you in-class

**//Setting: //** The novel takes place in New York City, a week before Christmas.
 * The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about childhood, and of finding one's self in society. **

**// Theme: //**


 * Loss of Innocence: ** Holden did not want children to grow up and lose their innocence. He believed that children were innocent because they did not view the world with any bias whereas adults did, which made them corrupt.

​**Rebellion from Society:** Throughout the novel, Holden differs from society. He cannot hold on to relationships and does not have any friends because every person annoys him. He exaggerates any negativity of people he knows and meets. He believes everybody is a phony, they try to be something they are not and this annoys him a lot.


 * Mental Instability: ** Holden was negatively affected when his brother Allie died. He has been expelled or run away from at least four schools because of his incapability of living with others, which is why he is in a mental institution.

**Childhood vs. Adulthood**: ​ ​Holden does not want to believe he is just like any other adult around him. He says he is different and better than them.


 * Escape:** Whenever Holden cannot resolve something, he always tries to find a way to escape by either arguing with them or insulting them. He had an argument with his dorm friend and escaped from school four days in advance. He asked Sally Hayes to escape with him to Vermont or Massachusetts. He wants her to camp out with him and leave the world behind. When she refused, he insulted her and she walked out on him.


 * The Search of Identity: ** Throughout the book, Holden tries to find himself. He asked questions about the ducks and where they went after the pond froze, or buying the red hunting hat that others found ridicules but he wore it to become this unique guy in the society.


 * Abandonment: **Holden feels abandoned by the most important people in the world; his parents, by sending him to boarding schools, his brother Allie who died, his other brother D.B. who lives very far away from him, and his friends who reject him including his childhood crush, Jane.

**//Conflict: //**

*** Holden VS. Society:** He cannot keep a friendship or relationship with anyone because he believes everyone is a phony. The only person he can relate to is his younger sister.
 * * Holden VS. Himself: **Holden has a very hard time dealing with everyday life. His own mind was working against himself, making him believe that everyone around him is a phony, which led him to isolate himself from the outside world.


 * //Symbols: //**


 * Red Hunting Hat: ** this hunting hat can be viewed in many different ways. Holden wears the hat in certain places, in places where he wants to hide himself from others. Its color could represent his dead brother’s hair, maybe he wants to hang on to his memories of his brother. It is a hunting hat because Holden is actually “hunting” and searching for his life and where he wants to be or what he wants to be/accomplish.

It also shows that Holden wants to be different from everybody else. It symbolizes his uniqueness and his individuality, by saying that he doesn't care what the hat looks like, etc. The Ducks in the Freezing Pond: ** As the water turns into ice, there is no space for the ducks to move, forcing them to fly away. This relates to Holden’s life and how there is no space for him in this world. It is time for him to find another place for him to live his life. It is mentioned that the water is half frozen and half water, which can translate into where Holden is standing in his life. He got kicked out of school and he doesn’t know where to go now. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Does a big truck come and take them away.." (do I wait for someone to show me what to do with my life?)," ..do the ducks stay at the pond..." (do I keep doing what I'm doing now?) "...or do the ducks fly south for the winter" (should I change what I'm doing now?).
 * <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">

Throughout the novel, Holden sounds like an old man, however his curiosity of where the ducks go after the pond turns into ice shows a part of him as a kid.


 * <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Ice: **<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> The ice represents the difficulties Holden was having in his life. As water turns into ice, the pressure increases. Difficulties were represented every time Holden fell or slipped because of the ice. [Slipping on a patch of ice on the way to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer; falling with Sally while ice skating]

//The Wrong Ice-Skates//: his mom buying him the wrong ice skates shows the lack of support he is getting from his mom/parents, which can also relate to how she wasn’t able to provide him with the right supplies for him to survive in this world.


 * Allie's Baseball Glove:** The baseball glove that belonged to Holden's brother Allie, represents his love for his brother. The poems that were written on the glove with green ink give Holden a chance to Hope.


 * Carrousel Gold Ring:** This represents the carefre ways of childhood. The carrousel goes around in circles, the same way Holden was going around to stay emotionally stuck onto his childhood by attending different schools. When he sees his little sister ride the carrousel, he wonders if she will grow up the same way as Holden did.


 * The Museum**: Holden liks the museum because to him it represents stability and security; nothing ever changes in the museum, everything is the same.


 * The Broken Record**: When holden goes home to see his little sister, Phoebe, he buys her a music record. While walking towards Central Park, he drops the record, shattering it into pieces. This could indicate Holden, broken, emotionally-broken, going home emotionally distraught.


 * //<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tone: //**<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Holden’s tone differs between disgust, cynicism, bitterness and nostalgic longing. When talking, Holden tends to use these methods:

<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Anaphora is when you repeat the same word in at the beginning of a section. <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“//It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place//.” Pg. 155
 * __ Anaphora __:

<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Metaphor compares one thing to another. <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“//He slept like a rock//.” Pg. 50 “//Or you’d just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them.//”
 * __ Metaphor __:

<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Repeating the same constant sound at the beginning of several words. <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“//We can **s**moke till they **s**tart **s**creaming at us.//” Pg. 55-56
 * __ Alliteration __:

<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Hyperbole: rhetorical device in which statements are exaggerated. Irony: When something is said and another thing is meant. <span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">”//It’s really ironical, because I’m six foot two and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head- the right side- is full of millions of gray hairs. I’ve had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve.//” Pg. 9
 * __ Irony and Hyperbole __:

**Point of View**: the story is told by a sixteen-year-old boy who portrayes himself as "perfect." At the beginning of the book, Holden tolds us that he was the perfect liar, he could have been going to buy some magazines and convince others that he was going to an opera. So for all we know, Holden could be lying to us about who he really is. //"I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life//." Pg. 16


 * //<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Foreshadowing: //**<span style="color: #d947b3; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> At the beginning of the book, Holden starts by saying that he would rather start telling his story the day he left Pencey Prep. (Pg.1. “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.”)

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