The Need for Control on The Catcher in the RyeWith his work, The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger has created an absolutely unique piece of literature. The entire novel was written from the first-person point of view of 17-year-old Holden Caulfield. Most of the story is composed of Holden's rudimentary monologue of "overwhelmingly simple" thoughts, the rest using his delivery of previous dialogue. This, along with the use of unique punctuation, rambling explanations, and complex characterization, transforms the simple plot into a complex literary classic. Both the novel's dialogue and monologue manage to convey the feeling of natural speech like "I mean, you'd be different somehow – I can't explain what I mean." The contractions “would” and “can't,” because they are common in everyday speech, establish a very common and simple tone. The accent on the first syllable of "different" reinforces the tone, demonstrating the typical nature of their speech. Use hyphens for pauses and to signal associative digressions. Instead of signaling pauses, commas are used only where mechanically required. “So, all of a sudden, I ran like crazy across the street – I almost killed myself, if you want to know the truth – and I went to a stationery shop and bought a pad and a pencil.” ***QUOTE THIS???***Holden Caulfield creates a thought-provoking point of view. On the surface, many of his thought patterns seem unrelated and stray from the topic. His association between argument and digression is used almost constantly throughout the novel. However, realizing that these digressions are very relevant and even crucial to the topic allows the reader to gain true insight into the character. His statements... middle of the paper... His being the only "big" person expresses his desire to be in control. Playing in the rye field next to a crazy cliff would represent his approaching fall while being oblivious to the danger. His only desire is to be able to prevent it, to be in control. Then, having established his desires, he considers it impossible by expressing thoughts about his madness. He's decided he can't have control, but that's all he wants. In a world with no alternatives to his painful lifestyle, what can Holden do but play blindly in the rye field, right next to his cliff of sanity. "But life is a game, boy. Life is a game that must be played by the rules." Bibliography 3rd edition Psychology (Bernstein-Stewart, Roy, Srull and Wickens) Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, Massachusetts 1994 NOTE*** YOU MUST CITE ALL QUOTES FROM THE NOVEL***