In J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden says, “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.” (Salinger, )
Catcher in the Rye contains the voice that is present in all teenagers: a voice that is sarcastic, rude, and abrasive. The earlier quote shows this voice through language such as “What really knocks me out…” and “That doesn’t happen much, though.” These two parts of Holden’s dialogue contain the same basic vocabulary as a teenager, a vocabulary that is short and too the point yet still contains the emotion being felt. Reading Catcher in the Rye will make any reader want to do exactly what Holden Caulfield described in the quote; call up J.D. Salinger whenever the reader felt like it and simply chit chat over the phone. And like Holden says, a book that evokes the feeling of calling up the author only happens rarely, and Catcher in the Rye is that chance encounter. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck only leaves the reader in a depressed state after George shoots Lennie and contains language and values that are far from any modern reader’s ideals. Catcher in the Rye has a higher value to of Mice and Men because of J.D. Salinger’s ability to write an escape for the reader, create an emotional impact, and appeals the interests of the reader.
A good book causes the readers to forget themselves and the circumstances of their own life. The more graphic and relatable the book, the more immersed the reader becomes. J.D. Salinger chose the exciting setting of New York and he used vivid descriptions to make even the normally boring settings of a private school and Holden’s home, exciting. J.D. Salinger’s description of Holden’s home is exactly the vivid and detailed descriptions that hook readers; “ It was dark as hell in the foyer, naturally, and naturally I couldn’t turn on any lights. I had to be careful not to bump into anything and make a racket. I certainly knew I was home, though. Our foyer has a funny smell that doesn’t smell like anyplace else. I don’t know what the hell it is. It isn’t cauliflower and it isn’t