Examples Of Pacifism In Catcher In The Rye

He talks about how all his schools are"'It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques'" Chapter 17, pg. 131. This quote shows that Holden values peoples sincerity. He want people to be themselves and believes that anyone who doesn’t ask like themselves or as he he thinks just like that they are phonies. In many places he can judgmental when deciding whether someone is a phony or not.

The tone or attitude in which Holden speaks is based on sarcasm and rudeness which shapes him as a character. He uses sarcasm throughout the book such as on page 71. He says, “I told her, ‘you’re really lucky. You know that?’ She was a real moron. But what a dancer” (71). Here, Holden is being very sarcastic and rude with this girl which forms Holden into his character. His tone towards the world and to the people in it is just careless because he doesn’t care about being nice to anyone. He continues to act this way, even to people that matter, such as on page 13, he says, “You mean about my flunking out of Pencey and all? ‘ I said. I sort of wished he’d cover up his bumpy chest. It wasn’t such a beautiful view” (13). Mr. Spencer is one of Holden’s teachers at Pencey and he doesn’t appreciate that at all. When Mr. Spencer is being sincere towards him, all Holden can think about is the fact that Mr. Spencer’s chest is “bumpy”. This truly defines Holden as a character and what kind of person he is; a sarcastic and cynical individual, all shown through his tone of voice.

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

While Holden considers himself somewhat of a "pacifist," he does care enough about certain things in his life that he is willing to fight for them. This devotion should be respected, not frowned upon.

Holden appears to be feeble and impetuous when he attacks Stradlater for not describing his date with Jane, a girl Holden adores. Stradlater throws Holden onto the floor with ease and punches him until his face bleeds. Additionally, Holden admits to being a habitual liar, demonstrating that he has low moral scruples. He boasts, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on the way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera,” (Salinger 22). Holden’s lack of physical strength coupled with his dishonesty shows that he does not possess heroic qualities. Holden also lacks courage, which is uncharacteristic of a true hero. A self-described coward, Holden states, “ It’s no fun being yellow. Maybe I’m not all yellow… I think I’m partly yellow…” (Salinger 117). Holden displays his lack of courage many times through out the novel. He admits he would not try to fight for his stolen gloves, from an unknown thief, should the situation arise. He is also afraid to face Maurice, the pimp, after being punched in the

    Holden also uses his lies to keep himself out of the wrong like after he and Stradlater got into their quarrel. Holden, probably still in a slightly dazed state and being hit by Stradlater, was looking in the the mirror to see how bad the damage was. “I had blood all over my mouth and chin and even on my pajamas and bathrobe. It partly scared me and it partly fascinated me. All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I'd only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I'm not too tough. I'm a pacifist, if you want to know the truth.” (Salinger 45). Even as he goes to extremes and calls the blood along his mouth gore and references his past fights, he continues to call himself a pacifist. A pacifist is a person who believes that war and violence is unjustifiable. Considering that Holden had thrown the first punch during Stradlater and his fight; him thinking that he is a pacifist really contradicts his actions. Furthermore, Holden, having been invited to his former history teacher, Mr. Spencer’s house, he runs to the main gate, which may not have been his wisest decision. “I ran all the way to the main gate, and then I waited a second till I got my breath. I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing--that is, I used to be. They made me cut

     Although Holden is extremely cynical and struggles with relationships, he is not all bad. Inside he is moral and generous. He was very charitable when he gave a considerable donation of twenty dollars to the nuns. Holden has a strange way of loving people.

Rather, he is saddened by her sitting in his room in her slip. He imagines her buying the dress she has just taken off and realizes that she is a real person and not just a toy to be used for his pleasure. Holden's desire to understand and feel for other people stops him. Holden also admits to being a coward, but the reader realizes he is just a scared boy trying to act like a man in an adult world. Even so, he doesn't flinch in the face of danger when threatened by bullies, such as his roommate Stradlater or the pimp, Maurice. Much more important than his physical courage is the moral tenacity with which he clings to his beliefs in the face of a hostile society. (Lettis, 5)

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

In this quote we can see that Holden’s mood changed immediately after he put on his red hunting hat. His unstable sense of self has adjusted from being sad and discouraged to being confident so quickly which is out of the ordinary for normal people to happen. Because of Holden’s insecurity of himself, putting on this hat changes his appearance, which he likes, and makes him feel better about himself at that moment until he takes it off. It’s an ongoing cycle of security and insecurity causing Holden to have this unsure thought about himself as he is not sure who he really is with all these multiple identities. Another great example of Holden’s insecure sense of self is that he has the ability to be vulnerable to the influence since he does not feel that he may be educated enough to make the right decision or the fact that he is too put down on himself to stick up and fight for his decision. For instance, when staying in a hotel he was offered by an unknown man if he wanted to pay for an experience with a prostitute. Because of his state of being, Holden could not answer the way he wanted to, "'Okay,' I said. It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn't even think" (Salinger

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

It frustrates Holden to know that he cannot defend others. Specifically, he wants to protect the younger kids, which is who he was before the traumatic events occurred in his life.

            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

He was unscrupulous.';(Salinger 40) Holden acknowledges Jane's purity and wishes not to have to think otherwise with Stradlater. Holden feels the responsibility to defend the pure and the innocent. Besides his conflict with Stradlater, he is also involved in a physical battle with Maurice.

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