Diction Within The Cather In The Rye

          In the first three chapters of The Catcher In The Rye diction is used frequently to help characterize several of the characters. For example the repetition of the words "dame" ( Salinger 12) "hell" ( Salinger 12) and "crap" (Salinger 1) characterizes Holden as a bitter, angry or disdainful person as all three words are associated with negative connotation.These words are also considered "slang" and could characterize Holden as having a lousy vocabulary or unintelligent. Another example of diction is presented when Ackley presents words such as "willya" (Salinger 23) and "lemme" (Salinger 23) with in his dialog. These words are also considered slang and could characterize Ackely and unintelligent, but lazy in the sense he does not wish to represent him self as proper or educated. The connotation that comes with this slang words suggest he he put little effort into his physical image allowing him to seem ignorant and unintelligent and overall having a negative image. This idea is also presented through the physical description that Holden provides as Ackley is an unhygienic and dirty looking kid. This further enhances the idea that Ackley is portrayed as a lazy and unintelligent character. However, this is the opposite case for Mr. Spencer. Holden referrers to his teacher as "sir" (Salinger 11). The word sir is often associated with the idea of respect. This characterizes Spencer as wise and a respectable teacher who's vocabulary is much richer than that of Holden's or Ackley suggesting he is intelligent creating a positive image. However,the physical description of Mr. Spencer is the opposite of what he acts like as his is old and shabby. This suggests that although educated, Mr. Spencer like Holden and Ackley is lazy and antagonistic. Lastly, Stradlater could be characterized similarly to Spencer as intelligent and positive. Spencer within his dialog does not use slang suggesting he is educated more so than Holden or Ackley however toward the end of the chapter he does use the word "crap" (Salinger 25) which shows that he uses similar vocabulary to boys of his age (Holdan and Ackley) This could also characterize him as flippant. However, although associated with a negative image form the use of the word he is still to be considered more educated rather than Holden and Ackley as he does not use slang word but proper phrases. Over all, the use of diction and connotation allows the reader to help characterize these four characters. Without them we would struggle to see the characters personalities.