Catcher In The Rye Phony Analysis

In the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger, phonies play a grand role as one of the major themes of the novel. Webster's Dictionary defines a phony as, "a person who is not what he pretends to be." There are many examples of phonies in the novel, such as Sally Hayes, Stradlater, and even Holden Caulfield. Holden appears to be the biggest phonie of them all. Holden Caulfield is by far the king of all the phonies mentioned in the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, for he lies, is a hypocrite, and adjust his outside image.

Holden is a character from “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Holden is a teen in the 1950’s society. Holden views his society as fake. He is quick to judge people and their actions. Holden is depressed due to what life has dealt him. Some of the ways Holden is depressed by his society is because they all are similar. One of the ways he expresses how he feels is by calling people “phonies”. The first time he used the word was describing someone's smile. “ I can’t stand that stuff. It drives me crazy. It makes me so depressed I go crazy. I hated that goddamn Elkton Hills” (pg;14). Holden was explaining why he dropped out of the previous

After Holden is kicked out of Pencey Prep, his mental state begins a chaotic downward spiral leaving him in a hospital to be psychoanalyzed. As Holden recollects the events leading to his final downfall, he frequently categorizes many others as phonies, something synonymous to those who seem hypocritical or fake. He scorns such people, acting as if he is superior to these characters even as he displays such characteristics as well. While the readers are guided through Holden’s flawed perspective and biased commentary they began to understand Holden’s own tendencies to lie and put on a show. Through Holden’s ironic use of the word phony, Salinger projects his belief that people can not truly be defined as either good or bad.

Title In The Catcher in The Rye, the reader is introduced to Holden Caulfield, a seemingly dashing yet recalcitrant teenaged boy who goes on an interesting journey in New York City after being dismissed from his elite boarding school. However, Holden’s actions do have some purpose. He does not like the society that he lives in and believes it to be phony. He wants a life without phoniness, because he believes that phonies cause most of the problems in the world, which is why he isolates himself.

Do you ever feel like you are surrounded by phonies but, end up realizing you are not that different from the people around you? Holden calf lied felt frustrated by all of the phoniness in the world. In the 1950's he flunked out of Elkton Hills and other private schools because, he could not handle being around phonies. He is going through a stage of life that is stressful and that other teenagers go through. This part of growing up is crucial since this will affect how you will perceive the world around you. In J.D Sailengers catcher in the rye Holden gets annoyed and frustrated by all of the phoniness in the world but, he is the true phony.

In the book, Holden describes many people as phony, whether they are his friends or random people he meets. Holden spends so much energy and time searching for phoniness in others, he never observes his own phoniness. His lies are pointless and cruel and he admits that he is a compulsive liar. One example is while he is on the train to New York, he plays a mean and unnecessary trick on Mrs. Morrow; " May I ask your name dear? "Rudolf Schmidt," I told her. I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, a young man named Holden Caulfield struggles to discover who he is inside, and he learns how to see the world after his brother, Allie, dies of Leukemia. Holden becomes a little depressed once Allie passes away. He sees the world as a place full of artificial people, and he can not seem to find anything good to say unless he’s talking about his siblings. His siblings are young and innocent, and these characteristics differ from those that are apparent in the adult world. Holden believes that his siblings are perfect, but Salinger uncovers that perfection is impossible and inauthentic actions make people human. Salinger tries to shows through The Catcher in the Rye that phoniness appears in the adult world as hypocritical actions or when people try to appear superior, and Holden constantly points out this so-called phoniness in people when he can be quite fake too.

Brené Brown, esteemed author of The Gifts of Imperfection, has previously expressed, “Authenticity is the choice to let our true selves be seen.” In other words, Brown depicts how the desire of conveying how one feels determines their authenticity, or “true self”. In J.D. Salinger’s fiction novel Catcher in the Rye, Salinger illustrates the double-edged effects of Holden’s beliefs on authenticity by his usage of the word, “phony”. The novel is narrated by a young adolescent named Holden Caulfield who becomes guilty of expulsion from school and embarks on a journey through New York City. There, he meets many unique people, a majority to which he assumes as phonies, immediately questioning their authenticity. His character development is depicted by utilizing the effects on Holden from the word “phony” and the interaction of phony people, or “phonies”. Throughout Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s perspective on the world and adults being phonies slowly changes from the many forms of life he has been exposed to.

1. Although Holden so passionately despise “phonies”, he himself can be categorized as a “phony”. By definition, a phony individual is someone who is fraudulent and hypocritical and while there are a lot of “phonies” in the world, what Holden does not realize is that he himself is an even bigger “phony” than the people he accuse of being “phonies”. In his mind, he imagines a utopia where people aren’t corrupt from greed, lies, alcohol, and lust. But the world he lives in is full of all of the above, and Holden’s hatred towards society is the foundation of his hatred towards “phonies”. He hates the phoniness that exists in the world, and that society is run by adults. He does not trust adults because does not understand them; adults are responsible for every part of their lives and his immature mind cannot grasp the concept of responsibility. Holden is a phony for being disgusted when he encounters a curse word written in a school bathroom, yet he himself curses often. When he visited his little sister Phoebe in the middle of the night and he was describing what Pencey was like, Phoebe interrupted him to tell him to “Don’t swear so much,” (Salinger, 168). But when he was at Phoebe’s school, he says, “...While I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written “Fuck you” on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy,” (201). It drove him

Allie’s death made Holden a very bitter person who dislikes almost everything just because it doesn’t include Allie. “Phony” things are a key part of his negative personality, namely as ungenuine things that combat Allie’s pureness which Holden misses. His old principal is a good example of Holden’s definition of ‘phony,’ because he only talked to people he thought might help him. The parents he snubbed didn’t matter to him because they couldn’t’ve helped his position and he didn’t care about their feelings, so he only talked to the ones he thought could be beneficial to himself. Allie, unlike the principal, didn’t have any rude parts, so Holden hates when people are mistreated or ignored because he feels it goes against his brother’s memory.

The Catcher in the Rye’s main character, Holden Caulfield has a major problem of alienating himself from the outside world. This proves to be the main conflict for Holden since it leaves him as a loner. The root of this problem is Holden not being able to connect with other people or understand their different backgrounds. When he encounters another person who seems to have conformed to a group or status he calls them a “phony”. When Holden is using this term he is showing his own biased opinion of the people around him. He often calls these people who seem to belong in a group “phony” since he himself does not belong to a social group. Being alienated from pretty much everyone in his life makes Holden very crass in the way he speaks to others

I would love to talk to J.D. Salinger about Holden’s view of the youth. Salinger shows Holden as someone who thinks children are sincere, caring, and innocent. In contrast, most of the adults are portrayed as phony, selfish bastards. Does Holden really believe all children are pure? Or is he inlove with a fantasy, the imaginary world he made in his head of the childhood he wishes he had? If he met me, a teenager in this generation, will he feel I'm a pure or that I'm someone who is phony? And what does Holden view himself as? With the thoughts of sex and death that race in his head, he certainly shouldn’t be labeled as innocent. However, since he sees the fakeness in the world, and doesn’t agree with it, he isn't exactly a phony. So what is

When he invites Ackley to come along with him to the movies, he asks Ackley if he can sleep in Ackley’s roommate's bed. However, Ackley denies Holden’s request. Holden’s answer? Ackley’s a phony. When Holden wrote Stradlater’s composition for him, he gets yelled at by Stradlater for writing about the wrong thing. He lent his hound’s tooth jacket even though he knew that it would be stretched out from the shoulders. Holden’s response to these situations? Ah, Stradlater is a phony. These examples help readers understand the pain felt by Holden at his social rejection. By calling them “phonies”, Holden is able to convince himself that they did, in fact, not reject him; instead, he was the one who was rejecting them, due to the “phoniness” present in them. Will criticizes Holden on this action, calling him rather unfocused, as his act of rebellion has no set direction. However, upon further investigation, it can be seen that this is yet another way of coping with Holden’s insecurity. By calling others “phonys” and such, he is able to satisfy his desire to find viable excuses as to why society does not accept him. This is yet another point of view not evident in Will’s analysis of Holden.

While phoniness and loss of innocence are unavoidable parts of life, Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye, cannot seem to accept it which leads him to depression and mental instability. Holden is easily aggravated by any impression of phoniness and he realizes that all adults exhibit pretentious qualities. As a result, he tries to protect all children, the only innocent beings in his life, from being exposed to phoniness. However, growing up and losing innocence are not preventable, thus causing him to exhaust himself through his useless efforts. Holden’s dislike towards phoniness and hypocrisy in the adult world leads him to try and protect the innocence in younger generations and ultimately leaves him disappointed in his inevitable failure to do so.

In The Catcher In The Rye, a seventeen-year-old boy, named Holden Caulfield goes through a transition from childhood to adulthood. Holden Caulfield struggles in accepting his loss of innocence which leads towards his depression. The Museum of Natural History, the carousel, and his romantic relationship explain the difficulty that Holden is going through to avoid his loss of innocence.