Escape is a theme which is reiterated throughout each of the novels ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Within Huckleberry Finn and Catcher, escape is elucidated through the use of literary and linguistic features and techniques. The extract chosen for Huckleberry Finn involves the final plan and finishing touches to the great ‘escape’ of Jim. Whereas my extract from ‘Catcher in the Rye’ deals with the desire to mentally escape a situation, the extract I chose from ‘Huckleberry Finn’ takes a more physical and ‘must go ahead with’ escape to approach the theme running throughout both novels.
The use of an archaic common noun, ‘chief’ in the Catcher extract gives off the impression of formality between the characters. This word ‘chief’ being used in an interrogative sentence, is connotating impoliteness and belittling act from the beholder of the speech present, being Maurice. The repetition of the word builds the climax for foreshadowing the event of something bad happening. The impact of this type of modal address leaves the audience feeling caught up in the intense emotion of the scene, made to feel a little sympathy for Holden.
It leaves them urging to read on and find out the consequences Holden had to face to not freely paying up the five dollars. Some of the audience will be willing for Maurice to get his comeuppance or to see behind the facade he uses whilst intimidating Holden. Meanwhile, in Huckleberry Finn the boys, Tom and Huck were helping Jim get free from slavery, escape. The mode of address used in this extract compared to the catcher extract seems to have more of an informal interaction between the characters. The characters speak on a first name basis which indicates pre-established relationships between the characters.
This being so because this extract is towards the end of the book, therefore the characters have gotten to know each other as well as the audience getting an idea of what each character is like. ‘Now, old Jim… ’ this quote said by Huck shows the informal mode of address used within the extract. Using the word ‘old’ being the complete opposite to what Jim is, connotes that the boys have bonded a friendship liable for nicknames to be used. In comparison the audience almost feels empathy for the characters in this extract because they make them feel at ease and comfortable with what as going on, even though the boys are in a potentially life taking situation. Holden narrates ‘But I’m crazy. ’
The impact of Holden using the abstract noun of ‘crazy’ to describe himself demonstrates that Holden has a low ideal of himself. ‘Crazy’ fits into the lexical field of the insults that imply the negative idiocy of the characters. ‘Moron’ is what Holden called Maurice when the confrontation occurred. This quote ‘But I’m crazy’ is also very typical of the genre Bildungsroman, of which ‘Catcher in the Rye’ is part of, as the protagonist develops through self actualisation.
Bildungsroman shows life as a journey full of bonding and experiences which lead to wisdom and understanding. Without maturity one may never feel an understanding throughout life and may not finish their journey. Holden shows feelings of fear as when he tried to talk to Maurice to try and save himself from the ‘five bucks’ they are taking wrongly, he says ‘… I started to cry’. Another example of an abstract noun, ‘crying’ connotates with fear as when you get very scared you can start to cry. Aunt Sally is presented as one of the leading mother figure who is very gullible yet loveable at the same time.
The quote ‘and it never rains, but it pours’ allows the audience to see the wisdom within the gullible aunt. This quote being an idiom of that time is a metaphor for initially meaning that good or bad things don’t just happen a few at a time, but in large numbers all at once. This foreshadows the number of events happening one after the other within the American novel. ‘Rain’ can link with the connotation of ‘crying’ within Catcher. Having ‘rain’ in the quote regarding good or bad events happening all at once can link with the negative connotation of ‘crying’ and being scared.
This shows that within both American novels there is elements of both good and bad events happening and the characters show this through their actions and speech throughout the stories. Similarly, while Holden was at Pencey, Mr Spencer was more of a father figure towards Holden. Even though Holden acted like a rebellious adolescent most of the time, it seemed like the wisdom Mr Spencer showed by the brief talks he had with Holden went in. This being shown as Holden grows throughout the novel. There are many examples of idioms used in the ‘Catcher’ extract, the use of the idioms give off the general feelings of Holden himself. Goddamn’, ‘hell’ and ‘God’ all fit into the lexical field of religious views, whereas Holden was not entirely religious he did have his views on the Christian stories within the bible. The impact of using idioms within both novels allows the audience to feel back in time with the story lines and makes them able to imagine the characters even more vivid than without. Idioms, dialogue and the style of narrative persona give the characterisation throughout both novels. Holden is portrayed throughout the novel to be able to think about and understand people very well.
We see this over and over in the novel as Holden interacts with various individuals. In the extract one of the people Holden learns to understand is Sunny. Previous to the extract shows Holden deep in thought about Sunny. He sees her as a young girl, not as some nameless object defined by her profession. However, Sunny’s actions in the extract contradict all of Holden’s thoughts of her. ‘Want me to get his wallet? ’ and ‘all I’m taking is the five bucks you owe me’ go hand in hand on portraying Sunny’s profession of a prostitute and all she cares about was the money and keeping her pimp happy.
