Wong 1

Jennifer Wong
Ms. Smit
12 AP
14 October 2014
Judgment and Generalization
Generally when people judge a person, they first look at the appearance and then his or
her personality. The outward appearance may define a person from a strangers point of view.
Using observations of how a person dresses or acts will put that person into a category of people
who do similar things. This is, in other words, called stereotyping. In Catcher in the Rye,
Salinger argues through Holden's view that people are judged first and most heavily on their
looks and actions.
Holden is very observant of his surroundings and so gives detailed descriptions. As
Holden was waiting for Sally to arrive, he noticed "a million girls sitting and standing around
him waiting for their dates to show up" (Salinger 123). He immediately began to comment on all
the girls' legs in which some had "terrific" or "lousy" legs (123). He also promptly noted that the
girls with "lousy" legs would indeed be "bitches" with no textual proof except for the fact that
the reader would trust the narrator's judgment or previous experience (123). He generalizes one
entire group by how their legs look regardless of their intelligence, personality or culture in
which gives off a bitter and entitled tone towards girls. He also notes that the legs are "nice
sightseeing" in which is its purpose (123). Holden voices his opinion, in which reflects the time
period of the 1920s, that no matter what women look like or even after graduating from college
that they are all destined to "marry dopey guys"(123). Salinger seems to put Holden far away
from the story in that it gives off a detached tone especially in this passage. This makes him look
Wong 2
like a distant outsider physically, in which gives a literal separation from the narrator and the
girls, and emotionally, because he does not talk about what they want and only talks about
societal pressures and norms.
Holden begins to talk about the actions of the guys in which he generalizes as well. He
uses strong language of sore, goddam, very, never, and stupid, to get his point across
that these types of guys are not ideal (123). Holden infers that dopey guys are guys that talk
about the miles per gallon their car gets, gets sore and childish when they are beaten in golf or
ping-pong, are mean, and never read (123). He does not consider any other factor of the guys
when classifying them to the dopey category. Holden does not seem to objectify guys as much
as the girls because even though he talks extensively about the negativity of all the guys actions,
he adds a positive example in the end of the paragraph. This example of a boring guy that was
actually not half bad in Holdens view gives a sense of humanity in the passage (123). The whole
page he talks about people collectively as just girls and guys. He finally adds a real human name,
Harris Macklin, and the sense of detachment is not as apparent as Holden recounts a cherished
memory of him.
Holden judges quickly if a person is a phony or terrific. He does this by looking at
the physical appearance and actions and coordinates his approach based on this judgment.
Holdens mentality of feminism also aids in this quick judgment. Salinger uses many devices to
achieve his purpose of how the physical appearance and actions triumphs over other inner factors.