The Catcher in the Rye - Question 7

What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective?

Salinger created a new writing style for this story that had been used in few books before it. Since Holden is the narrator, the text follows his own speech. He tells the story exactly like he talks. Also, Holden talks directly to the reader in the text, such as when he talked about his brother and said "You'd have liked..." That style of writing really helped to keep me interested in the story because I felt like I was a part of the story. Another technique that Salinger used to engage the reader was sadness. Salinger wrote the story with a sad and depressing "film" that covered the entire novel. I was so engaged in the story simply because I sympathized with Holden. I could really relate to his sadness and I generally felt bad for him. Salinger wrote the story in a way that was easy to relate to. That also helped to engage me, because I saw a little of myself in Holden. Salinger also used the technique of written words. Stories are so much easier to read when they are written in a language that we can read, such as English. Novels written in French would not make good summer reading novels because I personally do not speak French. Also, novels that are written in webdings or other symbols are very difficult to decipher, as there really isn't a standard code or key for those types of symbols. Salinger also wrote the story so Holden would go into great details about things that really weren't relevant to the story. He told of the times he played checkers with Jane and Allie's baseball mitt because they kept the reader interested and revealed more about Holden's character. Holden would make comments about the story he was telling, which is a very weird thing to try and perceive, but it made the writing style very unique.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.