Examples Of Phony In Catcher In The Rye

For example, the day Holden and Sally were talking a guy came up to Sally and started to act all nice and flirty with her. Holden noticed right away he was a phony guy and started to get mad. In the end, Holden despises phony people, but unfortunately, to him, that is all he seems to find in his path. " If you sat around there long enough and heard all the phonies applauding and all, you got to hate everybody in the world, I swear you did." As you can see the author uses the word "hate" to really describe what he feels too phony people. This is why Holden might not want to have a relationship so that he could avoid all the phony people in the long run.

His former principal Haas’s differential treatment of people’s parents is phony (17), and at the same time Mr. Spencer’s use of the word “grand” (12) is phony. It is a bit confusing. To sum up the possible meanings, a phony can have any of the following traits: insincerity, maturity, conceitedness, poshness, dishonesty, and masquerading. It is interesting that many of these meanings apply to Holden himself. For example, Holden likes to masquerade and lie. When Holden talks to the mother of a Pencey classmate he hates, Ernest Morrow, Holden claims to be named Rudolf Schmidt, and proceeds to have a lot of fun lying extensively about how great of a guy Ernest is. He admits about his lying, “Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours” (61-65). Earlier in the story, he claimed to be “The most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (19). Holden is a compulsive liar, a very “phony” behavior. This is one of the most obvious hypocrisies in Holden’s

Holden defines phony as hypocrites, condescending people, liars, and conceited people. He left Elkton Hills because he didn’t like being surrounded by a bunch of phonies. Holden mentions Mr. Haas, the headmaster at Elkton Hills, as “the phonies bastard I ever met in my life,” (Salinger 13). Holden explained that Mr. Haas would go around shaking parents hands on Sundays, but when he sees a very strange person, he would shake their hands and leave to talk to other people. Holden calls Mr. Haas phony because he judges people on how they look. Although he calls others a phony, Holden’s a phony himself because he lies about himself and others. If Holden doesn’t like phonies, then he doesn’t accept himself. He wants to change, so he has to lie in order to not tell the

Many Americans think that people who are different than them in some way or another are inferior. Holden embodies this need for judgement with his feeling that all adults or other adult-like students are “phonies.” He thinks that because they are different than him, they are less than him. Holden rarely sees an adult that he does not think of as a phony, “It was very phony- I mean him being such a big snob and all” (Ch.12 pg. 110). Even though Holden admits that this piano player is very talented and humble he thinks that he is still a phony. This gives good insight into how Holden sees people around him. Like many people in America, Holden jumps to conclusions and judges people who are different than

This shows just how shallow Holden can be. Moreover, on pages 168- 171, Holden refers to Sally as being “goddam stupid” and a “phony” because she physically/mentally was absurd and didn’t agree with Holden when he suggested they leave to go somewhere far away. This shows that if you didn’t agree with Holden or match his standards, you would be seen as lesser of a person in his eyes. By using repetition of the words “phony”, “goddamn”, and “moron” the meaning of the word is lost. He refers to almost everyone including teachers, parents, friends, and siblings (except Allie) as a “phony” or “moron”.

For example, in chapter 10, when Holden is staying at a New York City hotel, he goes to the Lavender Room and encounters three girls, Bernice, whom he is attracted to, Marty, and Laverne. A rare moment in the story as Holden steps up to interact with the opposite gender, asking them for a dance and a good time. To Holden’s misfortune, the girls don’t seem interested in him as they find his actions amusing. Phoniness is also present when Marty says she saw Gary Cooper, a movie star, in efforts to lie and impress others based off something that never happened. Holden thinks that the girls are coarse and rude, as they are looking out for celebrities instead of engaging in conversation. Holden is offended by their ‘phoniness’ and finds them pathetic. Although Holden has such a low opinion of these girls, he continues to seek for their company, in the end, dancing with the three of them. This example shows the extent to which others excluding Holden can truly be phony and not usually just exaggerated by Holden. But Holden, himself, also shows phony traits, that gives the reader a hypocritical, but true form of himself. Holden is able to

Holden always speaks about how he hates “phony” people. He respects those who are authentic and speak their mind. While this makes sense, his opinion is very controversial, because this doesn’t work in the real world. He feels like his older brother D.B. is phony for writing scripts for Hollywood, and not following his dream of doing his own work. Ironically, Holden could also be phony.

Holden possesses a combination of fear and hatred for "phonies". Holden uses this term to describe a wide range of people including shallow, superficial, fake, untruthful, or hypocritical individuals. "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies... They were coming in the

Holden himself is guilty of being phony because he is hypocritical at times throughout the book. Holden is angered by the words written on the school walls because kids will see the word and later think about them.Since he believes in child innocence, he wanted the writings on the walls to be covered. Although, Holden Believes in child innocence he goes around smoking, drinking, and having close experiences with sexual activities. In the novel, he claims to hate people who repeat themselves, yet he repeats the same words over and over again throughout the book. He claims to be illiterate, yet he reads a lot. He says something, and his actions don’t relate with his words, therefore making Holden a

Holden also uses the word “phony” to describe people that are trying too hard to fit in. A text example for this is, “ He was at least a pretty friendly guy, Stradlater. It was partly a phony kind of friendly, but at least he always said hello to Ackley and all” (Salinger 15). This text example is good at showing Holden’s definition of a phony because Stradlater tries to appeal friendly but in turn isn’t the greatest guy. Although these things are examples of why Holden isn’t a phony, the reasons for why is a phony greatly exceed

Holden's phony addiction gets him into trouble at school. Holden looks for the flaws in everyone and tries to eliminate that person he sees as a threat, such as when Holden decides to face off against the phony Stradlater after Stradlater's date with Jane. Holden also thinks every teacher is a phony who pretends to be helpful to students. If Holden has trouble in school he does not seek help from his peers because he believes that they are phonies. Hence this point is tied into one of the reasons he is kicked out of Pencey, failing four out of five courses. Holden's avoidance of things phony is very strong and he has a one-track mind. It is either his way or the highway, this is another example of how Holden's phony problem hinders his chance at full maturity. Holden is so scared

To Holden the phonies in the world allow him to be cynical and to isolate himself as a form of self protection, the second theme. In chapter 12 while at Ernie 's he meets a girl his brother used to see, “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... Strictly a phony”(Salinger 96-97). He explains that adults, like Lillian, will always be phonies, and the problem is they can not see it for themselves. Holden admits to this theory in chapter 22 right before the tell his fantasy to be the catcher in the rye. The phoniness is a human concept, and with Holden wishing it did not exist he is wishing for an inhuman world. Due to this he isolates himself as a form of protection from becoming an adult and turning into the phonies he hates. This barrier Holden puts up protects him and destroys him at the same time. He wishes to connect to people again like he did with Jane but has become so cynical that he is afraid he cannot be the way the used to be with her. This constant battle of protection versis cynical realness causes a great deal of problems for

The fact that Holden is not fully mature means that he doesn’t completely know who he is. However, he seems to have an obsession with whether or not other people are being true to themselves. For example, when he meets Sally’s friend outside the play, he automatically assumes they meet at “some phony party”. He even said he left the school he went to before Pencey, Elkton Hills due to the amount of phony people he meet there. What someone has to do to qualify as a “phony” in Holden’s book, is not completely clear. But the term seems to describe anyone he doesn’t like. Which leads to the question of whether or not Holden is as true as he leads us to believe. Now, he was genuine that time he and Sally went for a drink and Holden asked, “Do you ever get fed up?” This in its self is a truly honest question. He then goes on to rant about his life and how he wants to leave it all behind in order to run away with Sally. To Sally this appears very reveling and honest, and even show his inner most

Another expression Holden uses frequently is "phony"; in fact, according to Edward P.J. Corbett, Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times during the course of the novel (Corbett, cited in rye1.txt). Everything he encounters seems "phony" to him. He never really defines what he means by that term, because he doesn't

Holden does not seem connected to his environment and as the novel progresses, we begin to perceive that being phony is Holden’s way of protecting himself against other negative judgements and opinions. The truth