Holden Lie In Catcher In The Rye

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.

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

The carousel and gold ring finally allow Holden to accept change as a natural part of life and that it is necessary for one to grow as a person. Holden buys a ticket for Phoebe, his kid sister, to ride the carousel but refuses her offer to go on as well. Instead, he sits and watches: “ I went over and sat down on this bench and she went and got on the carousel” (211). By doing this, Holden chooses to no longer be a child. He starts to accept that he needs to start maturing and watches Pheobe, like the other adults are watching their children. This is a step in the right direction for Holden as up until this point in the novel, he has refused to change because of his fear. While Holden watches Phoebe ride the carousel, he watches her reach for the gold ring. As she reaches, Holden thinks to

In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden tries to find the truth of himself by being surrounded with lies he tells. He feels the need to lie rather than tell the truth because Holden wants to change. Holden believes lying is better than telling the truth because people won’t know who he really is. Along with telling lies, Holden also calls people, especially adults, phonies. Holden hides true self by living in a corrupted life of lies.

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, tells his own story to the reader. He admits near the beginning of the story that he is a compulsive liar: “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. If I’m on my way to the store to

In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the main character Holden experiences a massive amount of struggle. One major struggle he experiences is depression. Many teenagers can relate to Holden because throughout the novel he shows some of the struggles that anyone could be going through. While I was reading I felt sympathy for Holden and wanted to reach out and help him get through his struggles. There are many red flags repeatedly showing Holden being depressed. These red flags are not only found in Holden but can be noticed in other people who are depressed.

In chapter 7, the themes and motifs of lying/ deception, the plight of mental health, protection, isolation, and relationship/ interaction with others are overarching. Holden is a compulsive liar who tends to lie to protect himself from judgement of others and he also lies as a means of a comfort mechanism. For example, he lies to Ackley about what the fight was about between himself and Stradlater. He claims [he] was defending [his] goddam honor.” The reason he

This is what Holden referred to when he said he didn’t even think. In spite of Holden’s initial actions to seek some sort of human contact, once Sunny (the prostitute) arrived, he once again begins to distance himself. He lied to her about his age, name, and why he didn’t think he should sleep with her (he was recovering from surgery). This is one of the ways that Holden isolates himself time and time again. Another example is when he ran into his former classmates mother and he lied about his name and told her that he was out of school early because he needed brain surgery to remove a tumour. These lies that Holden tells others are his way of interacting with others while still isolating his true self for protection.

Throughout J.D. Salinger’s quintessential novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist is a self-proclaimed habitual liar. Holden Caulfield admits early on in the story that he rarely ever tells the truth when he says in his narration that he is “…the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my 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. It's terrible.” (Salinger 9) This single statement throws everything in the entire story into doubt. However, there are very specific occurrences of story elements that provide a sort of window to Holden’s true thoughts on his surroundings. These particular symbols are the only real way to gain an insight

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

No they are not intentional. An example of Holden's lies being unintentional No, because he is not a good liar but in his day “terrific” means bad or not good. Holden tells lies to protect himself in way. As the story goes on you can start to see what type of person Holden is. One example is when Holden lies to a classmate's mother. "I know he does," I said. Then I started shooting the old crap around a little bit. "He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself." He does not lie on purpose he just does it. When he lies it is

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.

novel were introduced by Salinger because of similar life experiences that he had gone through. One of the events that contributes to Holden using the word “phony” throughout the novel in order to show his hatred for society, was contributed to because of the experiences Salinger had while serving as a sergeant in the Cold War. Salinger as a child was also moved between prep schools just as Holden was. The audience is shown that being stuck in a place like New York City as a teenager is a stressful as you would think. Holden searches throughout New York City looking for truth and his purpose for life. Salinger shows through Holden the struggle of maturing in a society full of adults as a teenager, trying to find their identity. Holden Caulfield

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.

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