Themes in "The Catcher in the Rye"

Themes

Aesthetic features/Positioning techniques

Isolation: -          In relation to teenagers especially. Most teenagers feel alone in what they are facing and therefor feel a strong sense in isolation.           Loss and Death; -          Something you can’t avoid, painful, happens to everyone and no one really understands why it happens.             Adolescence:   Innocence: -          Something that Holden values the most, very precious thing, he sees it as the opposite of phoniness, he sees it exemplified by childhood and that when you have lost it you have lost it forever.

·         Characterisation of Holden ·         The red hunting hat – used as a symbol of Holden’s need of protection because of his feelings of isolation. ·         Language choices in the things Holden says ·         The motif of the ducks – the reason Holden is so worried about where the ducks go when the pond is frozen over is that this mirrors his own sense of isolation. ·             -          Holden’s experience with Allie’s death -          His reaction and the effect it has on him -          Use of first person narration -          Language choices -          The story he writes about Allie’s baseball glove -          Holden’s loss of his friend Jane to Stradlater through her date             -          Through the characterization of Phoebe -          Through Holden’s view on Phoebe -          The metaphor of the catcher in the rye because through it we know that Holden wants to stop children falling out of innocence into phoniness -

Characters in in "The Catcher in the Rye"

The Catcher in the Rye – what do we know?

 

Characterisation

Aesthetic features/Positioning techniques

Holden: -          Teenager -          Trying to figure what life is all about -          Opinionated -          Pessimist -          Cynical -          Has difficulty fitting in -          Negative -          Sees childhood as the ideal phase of life -          Sees adults as ‘phonies’ -          Sees adolescence as a scary phase -          Vulnerable -          Unenthusiastic about life   -          Does Holden develop as a character and move to a new understanding of himself and the world? If this is a coming-of- age novel, does Holden grow up? Does he change?                                         Stradlater:   -          Athlete -          A ladies’ man -          Views on sex differ from Holden’s -          Just interested in sex -          Self-confident -          Too minor -          Doesn’t write his own essay -          Doesn’t appreciate what Holden does in writing the essay for him -          Doesn’t have Holden’s morals or ideals         Phoebe: -          Little girl -          Holden’s sister -          Innocent -          Happy -          Perfect child image -          Loves Holden -                    Allie:

-          Written from Holden’s point of view: allows us to see his thoughts and opinions -          The symbol of the red hunting hat: tells us that Holden is vulnerable and needs protection. Shows us how scared he is of the adult world. -          ‘Catcher in the rye’ motif: tells us how he feels about the transition from childhood to adulthood. Supports the notion that Holden sees childhood as the perfect phase of life, the most positive aspect. -          Language choices tell us how cynical Holden is and how negatively he views the world: swearing, repetition, digressions etc. -          The motif of the ducks: shows us that Holden feels isolated and frightened, and unsure of a safe place in his life. Also tells us that his future is uncertain for him. -          The motif of disappearing at crossroads: it tells us that his frightened of the future, frightened of change. p.190: ‘The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.’ This contradicts the ‘catcher in the rye’ motif and suggests that Holden has realized that children have to grow up and have to face the dangers involved.   The red hunting hat - “I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around.” This suggest he has come to a new realization that he can’t always find protection from the frightening world, but that this is not a problem.           -          Holden’s voice -          Dialogue -          Holden’s descriptions of events -          Holden’s language choices -          Holden’s attitude to Stradlater                                         Holden’s voice -          Language choices -          Holden’s views of childhood and Phoebe -          Dialogue -          Phoebe’s writing -

Essay practice

While we are hearing oral presentations in class, you can work on essay practice with the following question. Writing by hand, including planning, will be better practice for your test.

"Because The Catcher in the Rye explores a range of universal issues, it is not just an interesting adolescent novel, but a true classic, able to be enjoyed by all age groups."

To what extent do you agree with this statement? Write a well-structured essay in response.

Essay Writing

To give yourself the best opportunity to answer an essay question effectively, it is important to work with a clear structure. If you follow this step-by-step process, it should help you to stay on track with your argument.

Step 1: Read the question:

 

Step 2: Highlight/underline/circle the main points

 

Step 3: 'This question is asking me to...'

Step 4: Brainstorming - write down anything that comes to mind about the topic.

 

Step 5: Pick out important parts in brainstorming and expand/organise to form what will become your main points.

 

Step 6: Write your thesis statement. Your thesis statement must involve and answer the question. Basically, it states what you will be basing your whole essay around.

 

Step 7: Write your topic sentences - work out what your main body paragraphs are going to talk about and then write your topic sentences.

Remember, a topic sentence must

a) tell us what the paragraph will be about

b) link back to thesis statement.

 

Step 8: Decide what quotations and evidence you will use for each body paragraph - make sure your evidence is relevant to your main point and ultimately supports your thesis statement.

 

Step 9: Plan what you want to say about your evidence and how it supports your points - this is your synthesius and it where you can include discussion of the positioning techniques.

Step 10: Write your concluding statements or linking sentences - optional. Some people like to do this in planning as it is one more way to ensure that they stay on track in their argument. Others prefer to wait until the paragraph is complete so that they can come to a logical conclusion in that part of the argument. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Step 11: Start writing your essay!

Introduction - thesis statement

- outline of main points

- include title of the novel and author's name

- can include very brief background about the novel to set the scene

- consider and mention positioning techniques, e.g:

 

Main Body Paragraphs - repeat for all paragraphs

Topic sentence
Expand/Elaborate

Evidence

Evaluation

Concluding sentence

 

Conclusion - revisit thesis statement

- revisit all main points

- mention author and title

- DO NOT BRING IN ANY NEW INFORMATION

- leave reader with something to think about

 

Step 14: Proof-read and edit - do not stop until you get told to put your pen down.

 

When proof-reading and editing, consider the following things:

 

Punctuation

- Have you used commas effectively?

- Have you put full stops at the end of sentences?

- Have you used quotation marks to indicate quotations?

- Have you used possessive apostrophes where needed?

- Have you used capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for Proper Nouns (i.e. a person's name, etc.)

- If you have used a semi-colon, colon or hyphen, have you used it correctly?

 

Spelling

- Have you spelt the author's name correctly?

- Have you spelt the characters' names correctly?

- Have you looked for incorrect spelling of homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently, e.g. 'to', 'too' and two'?

- Have you ensured that you are using Australian (British) spelling rather than U.S. spelling, e.g. 'analyse' instead of 'analyze'?

 

Sentence structure:

- Do they make sense?

- Do you have a variety of sentence structures, i.e. simple, compound and complex?

- Do you avoid sentence fragments?

- Do you begin sentences in a variety of ways or do they all start the same way?

 

Expression

- Have you phrased things in the best way?

- Do you avoid colloquial expressions?

- Do you avoid slang and contractions?

- Does the way you have worded your argument make sense?

- Do you avoid using first person (I, me, my, we, our)?

- Do you avoid using second person (you, your)?

 

Word choice

- Have you repeated words too many times?

- Have you used words in the right context - i.e. does it make sense the way you have used it?

- Do you know what the words you have used actually mean?

- Have you tried to use words that demonstrate that you understand the positioning techniques, e.g. 'imagery', 'characterisation', 'positions', etc.

Grammar

- Have you checked that you are writing in present tense?

- Have you ensured that you are not making mistakes with subject verb agreement, i.e. if the noun is plural so is the verb OR if the noun is singular so is the verb? E.g. 'There are two chairs." (Correct) "There is two chairs." (Incorrect)

- Do you use definite and indefinite articles appropriately? ("The" - definite article. "A" and "An" - indefinite articles.)

Content

- Do you answer the question?

- Is your discussion relevant?

- Are the claims you are making about the book/characters/events correct?

- Are your quotations relevant to your argument?

- Do you reference your quotations?

- Do you take the time to synthesise your evidence?

- Do you mention positioning techniques in your synthesis?

Structure

- Do you have a clear thesis statement that answers the question?

- Does this intro outline your main points?

- Does the intro mention the author and book?

- Do you avoid using quotations in your intro?

- Do your topic sentences link back to your thesis statement?

- Do you have evidence in each paragraph?

- Do you have closing statements or linking statements at the end of each paragraph?

- Does your conclusion avoid bringing in new information?