How Does Holden Use Figurative Language

The Use of Language in the Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger, who transformed his words into the voice of a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. Salinger uses blasphemy, phrases, speech repetition, and figurative language to express and develop Holden Caulfield’s thoughts, attitude, and dialogue to successfully capture the essence of a sixteen year old boy. By doing this, he creates an extremely realistic main character, who we all may relate to in one way or another.
The author uses imprecate language to construct an average adolescent. Proof of this language is shown on almost every single page of the book. A few of the most common words in the book are “goddamn”, “hell”, and “damn”. He uses the word “Goddamn”

“Chrissake” and “God’s sake” are used whenever Holden is depressed, aggravated, or disgusted, as in “Anyway, first He’d take a swallow and squirt it all over her, then she did it to him-they took turns, for God’s sake” (Salinger 62). Although it may be offensive to some that Salinger used the Lord’s name in vain, he did not use the words “goddamn”,“Chrissake”, or “God’s sake” to offend or to be irreverent. The word “hell” is used as “a great extent” when describing something. “Hell” is not used in a sacrilegious form. The use of “hell” is seen in the third chapter, as in “Where the hellja get that hat” (Salinger 22) and “like hell it is” (Salinger 22). In chapter twelve as “she didn’t care what the hell my name was” (Salinger 94) and in chapter sixteen as “depressing the hell out of me” (Salinger 133). The word “damn” is used to provide an emphasis. An example of this is in chapter eleven as “He got so damn

He does not like phonies because they are somebody who is fraudulent in some way, which he often associates with adults. An example of this when Holden says “For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 13). He goes on to say “Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile” (Salinger 14). Holden believes phonies are people who put a false face on to make themselves look better, think highly of themselves, act hypocritically, etc. Salinger uses this dislike to make Holden more individualized and more genuine. The people who Holden does not think are phonies are generally children who Holden believes still have some innocence left in them and people who are fun to be