Catcher In The Rye Phony Analysis

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.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

The theme of phoniness, illustrated by J.D. Salinger is the key of a better understanding the story line as a whole. Phony or fake more often than not means not real and is mostly referred to some religions by non believers or sometimes even to people. J.D. Salinger has used the term "phony" in a very common manor. By the interpretation of common manor, many of the people at that time period suited to the style of Holden Caulfield's dialogues through J.D. Salinger. Salinger's view of phoniness may or may not even share a bond with most of the readers' experiences, because this theme is confronted in at least some kind of form or action in the life of all people on a daily bases. The way Salinger has set

“All of a sudden, this girl came up to me and said, “Holden Caulfield!” Her name was Lillian Simmons. My brother D.B. used to go around with her for a while. She had very big knockers”(salinger 96). In “The Catcher in the Rye” Holden is portrayed as a whiny teenager that slacks off on his homework and performs illegal acts such as drinking and purchasing prostitutes. On top of that, another inappropriate characteristic Holden has is being sexist. The book itself is also sexist because of the way the main character thinks about women, the way the main character treats women, and the roles women play in the novel.

He hides under a visage of a cool ‘bad boy’ trope, seeing the world through a heavy filter- to him, anyone who's anyone is a phony, a liar, or just plain bad, despite him judging many things he later goes on to do himself. Over the course of the book we come to see Holden has built an opinion of the world that shields him from the pains and complexities of life. The author displays Holden’s traits quite prominently, especially through his use of language; he writes as Holden speaks- vulgar, rambling, and easily derailed, jumping from idea to idea infinitely

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger captures a teenage boy’s struggle with adolescence. The story is told from the perspective of Holden Caulfield, who embarks on a journey to New York City after being expelled from his boarding school. He meets new people and has experiences that reveal his personality and interactions. In the story, Holden is “fed up” with the world, he feels that everything and almost every person he encounters is “phony,” (a word often used by Holden). Anyone who Holden perceives to have affectations, he deems to be different from him. These people appear to be socially intelligent and are generally accepted into society, unlike Holden. Although Holden is very judgemental, he fails to recognize his own phoniness as well. So,

Despite his longing for acceptance, “His efforts to connect with any stereotypical kid his age result in abject failure“(Privitera 204). Salinger thoroughly emphasizes this through Holden’s relationships with Stradlater and Ackley, with both of whom he has a strenuous and artificial relationship, demonstrated by his internal, flippant commentaries on his peers as he discusses them in the book (Salinger 31-40). Holden’s peers ostracize him due to his more introspective and introverted nature, as seen in Stradlater’s angry response to Holden’s reflective response to this writing assignment, saying that he doesn’t “do one damn thing the way [he’s] supposed to”(Salinger 47). These difficulties stem not from deficiencies of his peers, but rather a problem of Holden’s refusal to accept anything different from what he expects, making excuses about his reasons throughout the book to cover his actions. His rationalization of his internal wants and desires impedes any proper connection he could possibly make with his peers. He, “Subconsciously longs to be accepted yet feels he cannot make the connection”(Privitera 205).

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.

During the novel Holden lies to cover up his real feelings or as an excuse to not tell the truth. In Chapter 3 Holden says, “I’m the most terrific liar…” he continues by saying how frequently he lies to get himself out of trouble (Salinger, 2010:17). After Holden is expelled he decides to leave Pency and life it up for three days in New York because he cannot stay longer. Holden cannot go home sooner because he’s not feel like telling the truth to his parents (Salinger, 2010: 54). Holden choses to do the wrong thing because it is easier than to stay at Pency till Wednesday or to face his parents. Holden is contradictory he says, “I’m quite illiterate but I read a lot.” (Salinger, 2010:19). One cannot be illiterate if you read a lot. Holden is even more contradictory when he speaks of Allie in heaven but admitted that he is an atheist (Salinger, 2010:107). It is clear that Holden’s words and actions are contradictory when he says that the movies are phony but attends the movies a few times during the three days (Salinger, 2010:30).Holden’s character is riddled with dishonesty, wrong choices, and contradictions and true to an

     In life there comes a time when everyone thinks that they are surrounded by phoniness. This often happens during the teen years when the person is trying to find a sense of direction. Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction in J.D. Salinger's, "The Catcher In The Rye." Holden has recently been expelled from Pency Prep for failing four out of his five classes. He decides to start his Christmas recess early and head out to New York. While in New York Holden faces new experiences, tough times and a world of "phony." Holden is surrounded by phoniness because that is the word he uses to identify everything in the world that

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.

Whether they state something that is not the truth or holds back information, they all have different motives for doing so. Throughout the novel, Holden persistently lied to the different characters he interacted with. He lied about who he was, and the things that have occurred. For example, when Holden was sitting with Mrs. Morrow on the train, he lied about his name and his life. He stated that his name was “Rudolf Schmidt”, who was the janitor for Pencey Prep. After he stated his alias, Holden continued to make false statements about his life. Holden expressed he didn’t feel like “giving her his whole life history”. Holden’s alias suggests he is insecure about his true self, therefore lies to seem more interesting. His use of fibs demonstrates his method of feeling more confident about himself. On multiple occasions, Holden also lies about his age, wanting to seem more mature. By lying about different aspects of his identity, he alienates himself from the harsher reality of who he is, due to his lack of innocence and confidence. Not only does Holden lie to gain confidence, but to also feel in control of his life. Throughout the novel, he reflected an impotence to understand the complicated adult life people desire, causing him to not know where he belongs and feel out of control. With Holden persistently lying, he feels he can gain a sense of control.For example, when Holden hired the prostitute, he lied to avoid having sexual

     One of the first relationships that is mentioned in the story, is Holden’s relationship with D.B., his brother. Throughout his childhood, it is obvious that Holden has idolized his older brother. Now that D.B. is a writer for Hollywood, Holden considers him a phony, and accuses him of prostituting himself by agreeing to work for the film industry.

Holden Caulfield, from Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is deceiving himself because he is seeking truth and individuality, while trying to protect his own innocence and purity. When Holden wants to know “where [the ducks] go, when [the lake] gets all frozen over” (p.60), it shows his yearning for a deeper understanding of life, as well as his inability to accept situations and people as they are. Consequently, he makes quick judgments to protect himself from the fact that not everything makes sense. One of Holden’s significant judgments is his belief that he is “surrounded by phonies” (p. 41). Ironically, the judgments he makes are all phony, because he cannot bear the reality that things are more complex, and subsequently that everything

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