The Vanity Fair of Speech

This paper, drawing upon sociolinguistic theory, explores the reason why, Holden , the hero of The Catcher in the Rye abhors the verbal behavior of people ar ound him to such a degree that he imagines giving up speaking by pretending to b e mute and deaf. Introducing such concepts as variety and speech community, the paper analyzes the attitude displayed by some of the novel’s characters behind their verbal behavior, and reveals that speech is used by these individuals as t he status symbol.