Catcher In The Rye: The American Culture

Through Holden’s critique of others, we see that he is strongly against people who are hypocritical, conceited, and who conform to society. Phonies are more interested in putting the best version of themselves out for people to see rather than being their true

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

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,

Holden’s personality is different from his sister’s. He’s a liar and childish. In chapter 8 p.g. 58 it says “ The I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.” He’s also childish. In chapter 2

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

Holden is a cruel and manipulative teen who lies without thinking twice. Holden even lied to people even though there was no problem telling the truth. People like Holden are incredibly difficult to sympathize with. Especially if this person lies straight to your

            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

Hol­den is a middle child being the second born out of his four siblings. This does not dictate or predetermine how his life will be like but it can play a large role in how he fits into his family. He greatly respects his older brother DB which can be gathered when he says that his brother is his favorite author but also criticized him and deems him a phony for having a career out in hollywood. This can also be taken as jealousy as some children might have of their older siblings who seem more successful in life. While he loves his older brother there is an underlying resentment because he might be pressured to follow in his brother’s footsteps but instead rebels. While Hol­den tells the story in a higher than thou sort of way you can see moments of weakness and insecurity when he puts himself down by saying things like “in the

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

Are there moments when Holden is phony and full of hypocrisy? What does this reveal about his psychological issues?

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

Despite this, he is a very kindhearted individual. Holden is very critical of others. His opinion on many people and things is that they are “phony”. He is also known to judge people based on appearance and their virginity. A very good example of this is his introduction of Robert Ackley: “The whole time he roomed next

Around every corner Holden sees corruption. He looks out on a world, which appears completely immoral and unscrupulous. Holden finds a hard

This makes him become mature and teaches him to be responsible for his life. This also displays the darkness of humanity. Some people will cover the truth to reach their desire. Holden tends to understand social cues, the way people act and the meaning behind it. The society isn’t as

Holden is a profoundly negative person, he is constantly judging other people, calling them ‘phonies’ and criticising them. For instance when he says “I was surrounded by phonies.” of his time at Elkton Hills. (CITR, 14) Throughout the novel, Holden repeatedly behaves immature and makes irresponsible and destructive decisions, even if he knows it is the wrong thing to