Justin

English Chapter Summary by Justin TeoChapter 5 Chapter 5 explores a typical Saturday night at Pencey, narrated through the same cynical tone of the character Holden Caufield established in prior chapters. As the curtains close on an uneventful night, Holden reminisces about his brother Allie and his baseball mitt. Consequently, Holden is forced to face his tragic past, the tragic past which has turned him into the person that he is. Holden’s constant use of hyperbole outlines his dissatisfaction with the world around him, and the consequent detachment from society. “I dropped about a thousand hints; Already told me about a hundred times”. The effect of using hyperbole creates a larger impact in comparison to the use of a smaller and less significant quantity. The use of informal tone and colloquial language allows the reader to establish a more personal connection with Holden. Through the first person narration we see everything and understand everything from Holden’s point of view. Ironically, Salinger is then able to evoke emotive response through the use of an impersonal tone when Holden speaks about Allie, and his baseball mitt. This impersonal tone and detachment from emotion is shown through various statements that Holden makes: “He’s dead now; I broke all the windows just for the hell of it”. These statements show no feelings of sadness, which may surround an underlying problem that Holden has not been able to properly deal with Allie’s death. This problem may be the cause of Holden’s insecurity and detachment from society. The use of short sentences when Holden is talking about Allie, may be commenting on his detachedness with these memories (hence the sentences are short detached), and outlines how his detachedness with the memories also detaches him from the emotions that go along with it. Chapter 5 deals with the cause that has made Holden the person that he is an insecure adolescent who feels resentment towards everything in life, as a result of the death of his brother Allie. Chapter 5 is able to comment on the concept of the individual and society because it shows how and why Holden seems to have the inability to interact with society. Emotions are a universal trait that every human being should be able to understand regardless of race, religion, sex, etc. Since Holden appears to have no emotions, he cannot understand the emotions of his society, and therefore cannot act accordingly.