Catcher+Lit+notes

Catcher Lit Notes
 * Framed narrative (bookended story)
 * Outside story – Holden looking back at what happened to him “around last Christmas”
 * Inside story – 3 days in New York City
 * Coming of age novel – bildungsroman
 * Childhood to adulthood
 * Stream-of-consciousness – writing that mimics the words that pass through someone’s head while they’re thinking
 * Colloquial language – how people really talk. In this case, teenagers.
 * Picaresque novel – the roguish main character goes from place to place having unrelated adventures. Not quite this one, but there are aspects in Catcher.

Characteristics of Holden’s Narration Holden is our most famous Unreliable Narrator Symbols
 * Contrasts/Opposites
 * Lying
 * Honesty
 * Repetition
 * Exaggeration
 * Alienation/Isolation
 * Gregariousness
 * Depression and Mental Anguish
 * Hyperactivity
 * Red Hunting Hat
 * Museum of Natural History
 * Ducks in Central Park
 * Allie’s Baseball Glove
 * The “catcher in the rye”/falling
 * Phoebe grabbing the big brass ring