An investigation into escape

An investigation into escape Escape is a theme consistent within both J. B Salinger’s “ Catcher in the Rye” and Mark Twain’s “ Huckleberry Finn” and is demonstrated through linguistic and literary techniques. In “ The Catcher in the Rye” I have chosen the last three pages of Chapter 24 where Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is spending the night sleeping on his previous teacher’s couch. The Huckleberry Finn extract I have chosen occurs in the beginning of Chapter 4. Huckleberry Finn has been kidnapped by his father and is now trapped in a cabin in the middle of the woods. Both the “ Catcher in the Rye” extract and the “ Huckleberry Finn” extract consist of the protagonists attempting to escape from a character that is perceived by society as playing a safe and secure role to a child. Both these characters do not live up to the expectations of their role and force both of the protagonists to literally attempt to escape from them. In “ The Catcher in the Rye” Holden Caulfield Is trying to escape from his teachers apartment after being extremely shocked by his actions. A quotation to show this is “ he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head” This quotation shows inappropriate actions from a teacher. Society often associates teachers with connotations such as considerate, trustworthy and supportive. In this extract this is not the case, Holden has woken to find his teacher “ petting him” in an inappropriate way. By using taboo lexis such as “ goddam” J. B Salinger successfully emphasises Holden’s fear towards his teacher.