The Catcher in the Rye: Hyperbole 5 key examples

By invoking The Return of the Native, a novel centered around the personal growth and development of an intelligent young person, Salinger is subtly connecting Holden’s journey to Hardy's story of fatalistic self-discovery in an unfeeling world. Just as Eustacia Vye, Hardy’s protagonist, is torn between good and bad choices, Holden struggles with his morality and identity. The setting of The Return of the Native is also just as important as New York is to The Catcher In The Rye. Both Holden and Eustacia feel a painful and irresistible connection to the extraordinary, storied places where they grew up. Both characters also feel like these settings are stifling them.

Holden also uses hyperbole here when he talks about Ring Lardner’s plays, saying that a story about a girl getting killed because she’s always speeding "just about killed" him. This exaggeration refers to the impact the story had on him, making him laugh uproariously even though a character was literally “killed” in the scene. Similarly, when Holden says books "knock him out," he’s using hyperbole to stress the profound effect the right book can have on him.

Holden’s claims that Bernice “knocked him out” by dancing—especially as he’d previously said she wasn’t much to look at—points to his raging hormones and the powerful and immediate effect that even minor gestures can have on his feelings. He feels overwhelmed by romantic thoughts when he sees “her pretty little butt” moving around as she dances. It doesn’t matter how he felt before; he knows that any girl could “drive him crazy” if she did “something pretty” at the right moment. The final exclamation he gives here is almost exasperated, as though Holden is frustrated with the almost magical power his sexuality has over his thoughts and impulses.

There are two types of young female hand-holders, according to Holden. The metaphor Holden uses here describes first one and then the other. One sort, he says, has hands that “goddamn die” when held. This expression illustrates how these girls’ hands become limp and unresponsive, signaling disinterest in him. On the other hand, there are girls whose hands are in constant movement, as if they "think they have to keep moving their hand all the time." Although these hands aren’t “dead,” they aren’t much better, and this statement points to his annoyance that they think they need to impress or entertain him.

Overall, this remark emphasizes Holden's irritation and discomfort with the superficiality of these interactions. Most girls, in his opinion, aren’t holding hands with him for the right reasons. He wants more authentic and meaningful connection than the ones he’s used to getting, and he thinks that hand-holding technique is emblematic of this issue.

Holden loves the auditorium, and thinking about it spurs some of the most romantic associations for him that the Museum evokes. Holden recalls that the auditorium’s smell was "like it was raining outside, even if it wasn’t.” The imagery of smell in this passage evokes a sense of being deliciously inside when it’s bad outside, sheltered from the weather. Even if it isn’t raining outside, the auditorium feels so safe and inviting that, by comparison, it might as well be. 

This passage is also an example of hyperbole, as Holden describes being in the auditorium as feeling like “you were in the only nice, dry, cosy place in the world.” The hyperbole draws the reader’s attention to the sense of refuge Holden feels here. Although, of course, there are safer places “in the world” than public libraries, to Holden it’s the ultimate sanctuary. He often feels anxious and depressed in other settings, but the library makes him feel welcomed and safe. 

In this passage, Holden uses pathos and hyperbole to invoke the reader's sympathy through his gloomy predictions about his tombstone. When an author appeals to a reader’s sense of pathos, they are trying to make the reader feel an emotion in order to support a claim they’re making. Here, Holden states that one "can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any." There’s nowhere that he could be buried, Holden claims, that wouldn’t be quickly ruined by someone defacing it. Holden is feeling pretty disillusioned by this point, and this statement reflects his bleak outlook on the future.

What's more, Holden goes on to amplify this through hyperbole, adding that he can’t imagine a place in the world where one could avoid someone carrying out this kind of defacement. He’s gloomily saying that he thinks the negative, “spoiling” aspect of life will always find a way to disrupt any sense of tranquility he can find. 

The exaggerated prediction he makes about his tombstone furthers his point. He imagines that even in death, his grave marker would read "Holden Caulfield" along with his birth and death years. This seems normal. However, he goes on to say that he thinks someone would add "Fuck you" right below, preventing him from escaping disrespect and hostility even in death. Holden's insistence that this defacement is inevitable—"I’m positive, in fact"—is funny in this scenario, but the statement itself is painfully bitter. He’s trying to elicit sympathy from his audience for what he sees as his relentless misfortune in an unkind world.