The Catcher in the Rye 5

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger

In the fourth section, Holden's diction remains important to the purpose of this novel.  He still uses words that promote his story telling to some audience, and the informal language remains consistent.  Holden also curses a bit less as the story progresses, and Laura had a theory about this in our small group.  She thought that Holden uses certain words ("goddam" and "sonuvabitch") when he's around his peers to connect with their immaturity.  His informal speech also includes using second person as if directing the conversation toward a third party.
      Another major aspect of Holden's diction is all his exaggerating and assumptions and generalizations.  On pages 159-162, Holden uses phrases such as "a mile long bed," "three cartons of cigarettes," and "two seconds."  He also uses "ten million garbage pails" on page 180.  These exaggerations show a little bit into Holden's mind and demonstrate his mental instability.  Although Holden has not yet identified what his mental state is, we can see that there is something a bit off in his mind.  Holden also often generalizes people and events to distance himself away from them.