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- The Catcher in the Rye
- - foreshadowing -
-
- The use of forshadowing in a novel can help it's reader get a sense of what
- is to come in the story without giving away the events themselves. It is a
- powerful tool which prevents events from being left unexplained, leaving the
- reader question the effectivness of an outcome. The eventual breakdown of the
- character Holden Caufield in J.D. Salinger's controversial 1945 novel "The
- Catcher in the Rye" was foreshadowed in the early chapters of the book.
-
- The first clue is his negative approach to life. He begins by talking about
- his "lousy childhood" (p.1) and the first traces of profanity can be seen scattered
- about the page in the form of "crap", "hell" and "goddam". Holden's first sign of
- distrust comes when he speaks to Ward Stradlater about his date with Jane
- Gallagher:
-
- "Listen. Give my regards, willya?"
- "Okay," Stradlater said, but I knew he
- probably wouldn't...
- "Ask her if she still keeps all her kings
- in the back row."
- "Okay," Stradlater said, but I knew he
- wouldn't. (p.33-34)
-
- This is seen again when he doesn't trust Stradlater to stop his advances of Jane in
- the case that she says no. Holden gives up his faith in people to trust him when
- he boards a bus holding a snowball. The driver refuses to believe that Holden
- won't throw the snowball so he draws the conclusion that "People never believe
- you." (p.37). He is also always placing labels upon people as being "phonies"
- which gives the reader the idea that Holden thinks that others are materialistic.
-
-
- Holdens attempts to protect the innocence in the world is another early
- sign of his deteriorating state. When Holden goes to Pheobe's school to deliver
- his note he sees some swearing of the wall which he says "drove me damn near
- crazy" (p.201). He wipes the words from the wall in an attempt to prevent the
- inevitable from occuring, leading the reader to believe that he may experience
- some mental unstability in the future. Eventually he comes to the realization that
- he can't rub all the profanity away himself. Another example of Holden's attempt
- to shelter innocence is the fact that he never does call Jane, possibly for fear that
- she will scar his memories of her as an innocent child. The title of this novel
- presents this theme to the reader in that Holden wants to be "the catcher in the
- rye" (p. ) so he can catch all of the children that sway to close to the edge of a
- cliff in thier play.
-
- Perhaps the most obvious example of foreshadowing in the novel occurs
- when his parents come close to having him "phsycoanalyzed and all" (p.39) when
- he breaks all the windows in the garage. Throughout the novel he refers to
- himself as "a madman" (p.79) which gives the reader the idea that he sees himself
- as having a sort of mental problem. These two peices of evidence alone present
- a fairly firm idea of what will happen to Holden towards the end of the story.
-
- The use of foreshadowing is evident in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye".
- It does it's job well in that it foretells the outcome of Holdens many problems and
- gives reason for it. The eventual breakdown of Holden is not startling to the
- reader because of the authors use of foreshadowing and therefore it is effective.
-
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