The Beginning

I would just like to start off by saying that J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is hardly what I had expected; as a very famous book, I was expecting formal sentence structure and the type of vocabulary that would require me to have a dictionary close at hand while I read.  The opening sentences of the novel provided quite the pleasant surprise, though.  They read as follows: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to hear is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.  In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them" (1).

It is evident from the very beginning that this novel tears down that "fourth wall", to use theatrical terminology.  The reader is immediately thrown into the action, interacting directly with the narrator; it is as if Holden is holding a conversation with the reader, telling his life story in great detail.  This informal nature is quite different from that of many other "classic" novels, which implement a plot line and characters that are more distant, adding to the surprise that I experienced when first reading this book.  The relaxed nature of this opening is especially apparent in the end of the second sentence, in which Holden is discussing his parents' concern over sharing personal information, as if Holden is telling these personal stories to a friend or random passerby and his guardians fear for their own privacy or reputation.

Beyond this familiarity between the reader and the speaker, these opening sentences also mock traditional opening sentences of other books, stories, and works.  In many other pieces of literature, the works open much like Holden describes: the narrator describes their childhood, family life, residential settings, etc.  In contrast to this, the narrator of Salinger's novel immediately jumps in, discussing his thoughts about others ("they're nice and all - I'm not saying that - but they're also touchy as hell"), recent events and happenings in his life ("I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas"), and some random descriptions of those in his life ("He's in Hollywood...He just got a Jaguar...He's got a lot of dough, now").  As he stated when he opens up the novel, Holden essentially cuts out the seemingly useless information and gets straight to the point, to what he believes is more interesting.

By cutting out the pieces of information that would help to shape Holden as a character, this is reflective of the angsty, rebellious spirit of teenagers.  Because talking about his childhood and his parents "bores" him, he just chooses to leave it all out, despite what the reader might want/expect.  This also sets the tone for Holden as a character and introduces him as a more free-spirited teen, as opposed to a cookie-cutter perfect, obliging child.  These characteristics define the narrator as a person and allows the reader to get a feel for his personality traits and thought processes.

Overall, the opening sentences really set the tone of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye; from just the first two sentences, the readers already has a feel for the main character and narrator, as well the tone of the book as a whole.  The casualness and informality from the very beginning sets this novel apart from many other classics over the years, only adding to the book's uniqueness and popularity.