Close Reading Bingo

Mistakes in Other Classes:

1."Needly are of shine," "adding long glassy highlights," and " Towering volumes of marble and glass."
- Rule Five, The World is Ours

2. The narrator briefly discusses his “lousy childhood” and “all that David Copperfield kind of crap” before exclaiming to the reader that he will not tell his “whole goddam autobiography.”
- Rule 4, Keep it Classy

3. On the subject of his parents, he says "they're touchy as hell."
- Rule 1, Laughapalooza

4. This gives the impression of a fancy an intimidating lobby.
- Rule 9, To Kill a Mockingjay

MY FAVORITE!!!

J.D. Salinger masters the voice of his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, in the first page of his novel Catcher in the Rye, using direct, colloquial, and bluntly offensive diction. Holden starts by saying that while he knows the reader would like to know about his background, he is not going to provide any information on his origins. His gruff, devil-may-care attitude exudes from the page, as he says he can’t be bothered with “all that David Copperfield kind of crap.” Holden’s trademark sense of superiority reverberates within the passage. While Holden’s language is neither profound nor particularly beautiful, it is representative of how a disenchanted teenager speaks. Holden complains that he won’t give his “whole goddam autobiography” and that his prother is far away from “this crummy place.” He has no objection to cursing, a sign of rebellion against the norm through language. Salinger breathes life into Holden by rambling and cussing, providing literature’s favorite teenage antihero with an identifiably meandering and rude voice.

- ZENGERINE