Helen

Chapter 8 SummaryHolden walks to a train station after having a physical fight with his room-mate Stradlater with his luggage, determined he will not stay in Pencey because he knows he doesn’t belong there. He gets onto the train and meets a middle aged woman whom he finds attractive and starts a conversation with her. The woman happens to be a mother of a boy who goes to Pencey too. Holden describes how he likes women generally to the reader, especially sexy women and admits that he can be a great liar. The conversation is about Morrow, the lady’s son and his excuses on why he is on the train. Holden fibs to the lady saying he has a tiny tumor on his brain and that he is going to get an operation done to it. The chapter ends with Holden telling the reader that he dislikes Morrow even though he talked about him to his mother as if he was a great boy. Techniques and Effects used in this Chapter“Women kill me. They really do.”These truncated sentences with the use of exaggeration stating that women ‘kill’ Holden gives an assurance to the reader from the serious tone that Holden is telling the truth that he has a weak side to women. This allows the reader to know that Holden is a teenage boy, going through the adolescent stage where he is desiring sex. “She had quite a lot of sex appeal, too, if you really want to know.” This sentence uses two commas to indicate that Holden hesitated to tell the reader the rest of the information, alienating and leaving the reader feel insignificant to Holden. Salinger uses a lot of techniques by making Holden’s tone defensive making the reader feel alienated throughout the whole book. This emphasises Holden’s perception of everyone being ‘phony’ and that he cannot trust anyone.“Once I get started, I can go for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.” The italics used on the word ‘hours’ in this sentence emphasises the person writing style which is 1st person limiting the way the reader can see the situation if not guided by Holden’s thoughts. This tone of wanting the reader to be on his side and exactly understand what he is saying explains Holden’s longing to belong with people yet alienating them at the same time. This chapter explores the concept of the individual and society as there is a lot of dialogue, exposing Holden‘s phony side as well as his real thoughts. There is the conversation between Holden and Morrow’s mother and also the other voice of Holden which is him talking to the reader. The thoughts he tells the reader is about him lying to the mother and finding the reactions amusing. This emphasises Holden being a very negative boy but longs the reader to be on his side by the tone he uses limiting the reader in understanding the story and not giving a chance to disagree with him. He is physically separated from his school and the train is totally empty besides a person who is not his age nor the same sex accentuating the separation he is feeling within his society.