Catcher In The Rye And The Great Gatsby Analysis

The Great Gatsby is set in the 1920s while The Catcher in the Rye is set in the 1950s. Despite the time periods being 30 years apart, both novels depict the American Dream in similar ways through the protagonist. The Great Gatsby follows the story of young man, Jay Gatsby, trying to win back his former love interest, Daisy, through his acquisition of wealth. The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by a male teenager, Holden Caulfield, and follows the story of how he ended up in a mental hospital. The concept of the American Dream is displayed in each novel. The authors of The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye use the American Dream to motivate the protagonist to try and achieve unattainable dreams. However, only Holden realizes his dream

Imagine a person constantly lying to get through the world, lying to themselves just to keep themselves in a relatively good state of mind. But they don’t always realize it. Throughout the novel Catcher in the Rye, Holden, the narrator if the story, is one of those people. Holden will often believe that what he says is honest, but as the story progresses, readers can tell that not all that he mentions is all true. In J.D.Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s lies are to protect himself and others and keep himself out the wrong because he is worried about his own survival.

Holden is the biggest hater of phonies, and at the same time, he is the biggest phony in the novel. In this novel, being phony is somewhat equivalent to being an adult. Holden wants to be seen like an adult. For this reason, he smokes and drinks heavily, and goes as far as being involved with prostitution. For people like Stradlater and adults, these are rather normal from their perspective. However, for Holden, they become paradoxes, as he absolutely loathes phoniness. Nearly all aspects of society, including movies, matinees, people’s behaviors, and even simple social interactions like conversations, are criticized by Holden for being phony. For example, during his date with Sally, Sally’s conversation with a guy they met at the matinee “killed [Holden]…it was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life” (Salinger 127). In a hope to make Sally understand his views on phonies, Holden says, “‘Take cars,’… ‘I don’t even like old cars. I mean they don’t even interest me. I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake’” (Salinger 130). Then again, Holden becomes the phoniest person shortly after. He asks Carl Luce,

In some places, the expressions only serve to make Holden more realistic, while in other places Holden is trying to reinforce his values. Holden repeatedly comments on his hatred towards phonies. This could be the reason why he frequently confirms a statement with "I really do," "It really does," or "if you want to know the truth." He also authenticates remarks by reiterating them. For example, Holden says, "She likes me a lot. I mean she's quite fond of me." (Salinger 141) and, "He was a very nervous guy- I mean a very nervous guy." (Salinger 165) In each case, Holden makes a remark and then feels obliged to elucidate that he is not making the statement up. Such mannerisms disclose several aspects of his character. For instance, because Holden has been dismissed from numerous amounts of schools, he may feel inadequate because no one ever took him seriously and he had no substantial academic standing. Thus, Holden attempts to solidify comments by reminding the reader that what he says really is the truth. Salinger uses repetition with different phrases and styles to give a more factual backing to Holden's comments, thus preventing Holden from seeming like a phony.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells a story of a young boy, Holden, who never quite understood his stance on life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles to adapt to the inevitable transition into adulthood, often worrying more about others than himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses connotative diction, repetition, and specific diction to convey Holden’s struggle of accepting life changes that led him to becoming mentally unstable.            To start off, Salinger illustrates Holden’s nature by using connotative diction.

I like how Salinger shows the phoniness of the adult world. “Phony” is probably the most used word in this novel. It means fake. Holden always uses this word to describe adulthood. In Chapter 22, he criticizes people around him as phony. “It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys.” (Salinger, 167). Although Holden is phony himself and doesn’t self-reflect, in a sense, his judgement

In The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden lies a lot for many reasons. Holden will lie to anyone in order to hide his past from others and create a ‘new him’, gain pitty, and entertainment. He lies to complete strangers, friends, family members, and even the person who is closest to, his sister, Phoebe. Holden hopes to create a new version of himself when he lies. He uses lying to feel good about himself and to cover up that he is depressed and sad about his brothers death. Holden considers himself a professional lier and finds himself constantly lying.

This is what Holden referred to when he said he didn’t even think. In spite of Holden’s initial actions to seek some sort of human contact, once Sunny (the prostitute) arrived, he once again begins to distance himself. He lied to her about his age, name, and why he didn’t think he should sleep with her (he was recovering from surgery). This is one of the ways that Holden isolates himself time and time again. Another example is when he ran into his former classmates mother and he lied about his name and told her that he was out of school early because he needed brain surgery to remove a tumour. These lies that Holden tells others are his way of interacting with others while still isolating his true self for protection.

            Holden is quite skilled at citing exactly what is wrong with other people.  However he never acknowledges his own faults.  He was sure the entire world was out of step with him.  As Alan Stewart explains, ?Holden seemed to divide the world into two groups.  He was in one group, along with a few other people such as his little sister, Phoebe, and

And so, Holden left school planning to spend some time on his own in New York City, where he lives. On the train to New York, Holden meets a mother of his fellow Pencey student. Though he thinks that this student is a complete “bastard”, he tells a woman made-up stories about her son. He lied to the woman. But lying to others is also a kind of phoniness, right? A type of deception that indicates insensitivity or even cruelty. Holden proves that he is just guilty of phoniness as the people he criticizes.

Holden is trying to strike up a conversation with the pianist at the bar he is at. When this is failing, he begins to make insincere compliments towards the man while secretly criticizing him in his mind. I don’t think people should lie like Holden does. There’s no point and it’s not nice, and it really doesn’t get anyone anywhere.

Holden doesn't always lie for a reason sometimes he just is bored and alone so he says stuff to people to make them pay more attention to him“They kept asking me if I was sure I could afford it and all. I told them I had quite a bit of money with me.”{Fitzgerald 59} Holden really didn't have a reason to lie to the nuns , he was trying to be nice to give and help them because they were the only people who actually listened but he still ended up lying to them. Holden even says himself he doesnt really have reasons to lie he just lies to do it “Im the most teffric liar you ever saw , in your life”{Fitzgerald 16}. He cant stop lying he just does it because he's bored.

Holden also has several redeeming qualities that keep him from being the rouge that many censors and critics wanted to label him in the fifties. As mentioned previously, Holden feels deeply for others and spends much of his time trying to understand them. For example, he admits to being a virgin and attributes this to the concern he has for the girls he is with; "he feels he would be taking advantage of their weakness if he had relations with them. " (Lettis, 6) "They tell me to stop, so I stop. I always wish I hadn't, after I take them home, but I take them home anyway." (Salinger, 121) He is also brutally honest, a quality children possess and adults seem to lose as they age. Holden dislikes things he

Holden is deathly afraid of conforming, growing up, and having to assimilate into the phony adult world. As a result he comes off as hypocritical as he is the most prominent phony in the novel. He constantly lies, refuses to connect with others and overlooks his own pain, letting it deeply impact his life. Holden is a compulsive liar; he does not have one honest conversation with anyone except his sister and Jane for the duration of the novel. When he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, for instance, he claims his name is Rudolf Schmidt and preaches about what an amazing guy her son is, even though he is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school.” (61) This shows that Holden falls victim to the same social conventions as everyone else. He says exactly what Mrs. Morrow wants to hear, despite the fact that he

Although there are essentially two Holdens, there are still traits that remain the same. Throughout the story, Holden feels the need to explain and justify himself, as though people don’t believe him. Holden tells the story