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Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—Drive You Crazy:
As he watches Bernice Krebs dance at the Lavender Room, Holden uses hyperbole to express his fluctuating and intense emotions toward girls:
And when she turned around, her pretty little butt twitched so nice and all. She knocked me out. I mean it. I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.
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.
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