Blog 2

There are many powerful moments throughout chapter 15 and 16 of The Catcher in the Rye. In class we reviewed the speech from Jeff Bezos, and saw that through his dialogue he produced a powerful speech that left a powerful message. I believe that in chapter 16 we get the same effect from Holden. During this chapter Holden is in the playground and uses vivid description allowing us to understand this setting.  On page 118 we see Holden describing his setting when he says, “It was lousy in the park. It wasn’t too cold, but the sun still wasn’t out, and there didn’t look like anything in the park except dog crap and globs of spit and cigar butts from old men, and the benches all looked like they’d be wet if you sat down on them.” Through this Vignette we are able to envision the setting that Holden is in. I believe the author used commas instead of periods in this section for a reason. I believe he wanted the description to flow and allow our imagination to start running. Directly after this quote the author starts using short sentences to pull the reader back and allow the shorter sentences to stand out when it says, “She likes to skate near the bandstand. It’s funny. That’s the same place I used to like to skate when I was a kid.” I believe this is a very powerful and important moment in the novel. This allows us to catch a glimpse of Holden’s softer side and understand him a little bit more.  Through the combination of longer and shorter more choppy sentences, we are able to get the full effect of this vignette.