“Although the men who lived on the first floor usually had first grab at the books sent each by Special Services, X usually seemed to be left with the book he might have selected himself. But he was a young man who had not come through the war with all of his faculties intact, and for more than an hour he had been triple-reading paragraphs, and now he was doing it to the sentences.” – “For Esmé - with Love and Squalor,” 104

In Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger consistently references the themes of love, communication, and innocence, even through each sentence. In “For Esmé - with Love and Squalor,” the story is in the form of a letter written to Esmé by the narrator, who refers to himself in the second part of the story as Sargeant X in order to “keep his anonymity” even though it is obvious who he is. In the above quotation, the narrator is explaining that Sargeant X used to love to read but did not come through the war with all of his “faculties” intact, causing X to have great trouble reading. The above sentences help portray Salinger’s true meanings through focusing syntax and specific diction. The subordinating sentence structure in the second sentence highlights the narrator’s distress. The sentence before informs the reader that the narrator loved reading to the point he would read anything, and this sentence informs the reader how now the narrator can’t read anything. The sentences go from not having all of his faculties, to re-reading paragraphs, to re-reading sentences. This subordinating structure forces the reader to follow the flow of the sentence and focus in on the fact that the narrator can no longer read even sentences, preventing him from doing what he loves most. Salinger’s use of distinct diction in the second sentence with “faculties” portrays the narrator's continuing connection to Esmé. The last thing she said to the narrator when they met was “I hope you return from the war with all your faculties intact” (103), where Esmé uses “faculties” to mean mental and physical health. Salinger reuses this phrase to uniquely display how the narrator loses his mental and physical soundness through the horrors of war. Through directing syntax and specific diction, Salinger is able to portray an under the surface meaning in his seemingly frivolous sentences.
     

While Salinger’s sentences look as though they have little meaning or are just there to continue the plot, his sentences usually support one or more major themes if one is willing to analyze them. The above sentences are a prime example of this technique. The first sentence seems to just be a fun fact about the narrator, but actually continues the narrator’s characterization and helps support the theme that life is hell without love and communication. The narrator’s love is reading and writing, and would read anything and enjoy it as though he had chosen it himself. However, the next sentence goes to say that he has trouble reading even  sentences. Salinger’s use of the “faculties” phrase for the narrator shows that the narrator loses his innocence in the war. War takes away the innocence of all who are involved in it, especially those who have to fight in it. The war not only took away his innocence but also gave him a physical ailment. This twilight-zone-like handicap keeps the narrator from doing what he loves most, reading and writing, and keeps him from communicating as well. His inability to communicate and do what he loves in turn makes his life hell, and the only thing that gets him through it is revealed at the end to be Esmé’s letter. Through focusing rhetorical devices and underlying themes, Salinger is able to portray the themes of communication, love, and innocence in his sentences.