This is a great question to think about in relation to
this excellent novel. Clearly, one part of the story that you cannot ignore at all is
the point of view. Having Holden tell the story himself means that we gain unprecedented
access to his thoughts and motives, seeing what he things about other people that he
comes across in the story and also what he thinks about himself. This is a very
revealing narrative choice that the author has made, and one of the fascinating
stylistic consequences of using a first person narrator is that the narrator can
themselves be unreliable, perhaps unknowingly. When we think about this in relation to
this novel, we can see how Holden Caulfield often presents himself as a character who is
a "phoney" whilst at the same time he bemoans the "phoniness" in others as a negative
trait. Consider the following example from the beginning of Chapter
Three:
I'm
the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the
store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say
I'm going to the opera. It's terrible. So when I told old Spencer I had to go to the gym
to get my equipment and stuff, that was a sheer lie. I don't even keep kmy goddam
equipment in the gym.
Holden
himself admits that he is a liar, but he does not associate this trait with him being a
"phony" at all, which causes us as readers to question his objectivity. A thesis
statement you might wish to use therefore to link narrative and character style would be
the following:
The first person point of view of
The Catcher in the Rye allows us to see the internal complexities
of Holden Caulfield as a character and gives us even more understanding of his quest
than he has himself.
Such a thesis statement would allow
you to explore the inconsistencies within Caulfield himself and explore his character
and how it develops through his trip.
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