Holden Pencey Prep In The Catcher In The Rye

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Furthermore, a story can resonate with its audience through personal, relatable experiences. Readers are more likely to sustain a greater interest in a story and acknowledge it as powerful if they can personally relate to it, and most specifically, the main character. Holden Caulfield helps take his audience on a complicated journey throughout the novel The Catcher In The Rye where readers, particularly in their teenage years, are given multiple opportunities throughout the novel to personally connect to the main character based on the wild yet realistic sequence of events he undergoes. One such event takes place when Holden had failed out of Pencey Prep, and like a typical teenager, preferred if his mother and father didn’t know about it…show more content…
He analyzes what could happen, specifically from his mother’s perspective, evidently palpable when he states “my mother gets very hysterical”, which is a battle tactic used by much of this same age group over 70 years later during the never ending war between parents and their children during the bumpy, choppy, and turbulent teenage years. This symbolizes the willingness of the ability to be independent in both generations of teenagers. The relatability between teenagers of the modern day era and those of the 1940s, as well as the willingness to be independent, allows for the creation of a strong personal connection to develop between the main character of the novel and his audience. Moreover, a different audience group is specifically and personally targeted in Ronald Dahl’s short story masterpiece “Genesis and Catastrophe”; mothers. Every mother is always taken aback at the beauty of their child when their eyes meet for the first time after birth, allowing for an opportunity to create a personal and relatable connection with mothers in the audience in which the short story successfully…show more content…
‘Is this my baby?’ ‘Of course.’ ‘Oh…, oh… but he is beautiful,’” (Dahl 5). In the midst of questioning the health and well-being of her newborn child, the mother turns around only to change her script entirely, complementing the baby and acting pleasantly surprised. Every mother tends to have a soft feeling for their children after birth, and this scenario is not any different. The story uses intense, descriptive words such as “serene” to attempt to further seize and take control of the reader’s interest and attention, in addition to the relatable and personal connections made, particularly towards mothers. Additionally, the author uses important aspects of writing including syntax and diction to make the scene feel slower and more dramatic, allowing readers to pause and picture the scene more clearly while reading the passage. Both The Catcher In The Rye and “Genesis and Catastrophe” successfully use personal and relatable connections such as the typical teenage experience involving the task of seeking independence and a mother’s emblematic experience at child birth to further connect with the audience and establish a more interesting and powerful
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