Holden Caulfield internally rebels against society, choosing to value his own defiant, unorthodox judgment over the authority figures and institutions in his life. He describes nearly everyone in society as hypocritical and “phony,” and constantly points out people’s flaws. In the environment of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a social outcast, since he detests the phonies and refuses to engage in their pretentious behavior. Salinger demonstrates these people do not act according to their true personalities, and instead try to change their behavior to conform to social expectations. Furthermore, Holden observes that many continually focus on money and celebrities, leaving no room for any positive emotions or genuine connections. While J.D. …show more content…
Holden mentions that his previous headmaster, Mr. Haas, “would just shake hands with” weird or unattractive parents, then “give them a phony smile and then he’d go talk, for maybe a half an hour, with somebody else’s parents” (14). Outwardly, Mr. Haas’s false intentions appear acceptable, since he treats every parent “nicely.” However, his biased actions hold problematic consequences. Not only does the headmaster treat the supposedly weird parents unfairly, he also tries to maintain a positive appearance with his “phony smile.” Haas fails to realize that his connections with these parents will not be authentic, since he is insincere in his actions and no trust can be formed between them. For a genuine social connection, Haas would need to act honestly and remove his preconceived bias. Holden witnesses another insincere interaction on his date with Sally. When seeing her talk with an Ivy League boy, he says that the two act as if “they hadn’t seen each other in twenty years...It was nauseating. The funny part was, they probably met each other just once, at some phony party” (127). Both of them do not talk naturally, and instead pretend to be familiar with each other. Their interaction is “nauseating” to Holden because they act insincerely merely to appear a certain way, despite having little connection from “some phony party.” In other words, Sally and the boy try to form a social connection through inauthentic means, ultimately resulting in a false relationship. Authenticity is necessary to ensure genuine connections, and therefore should be prized over appearances in
The loss of his older brother and the absent parents have really affected Holden’s behavior. He lives a life without any care but with exception of younger children. Holden has a fascination with younger children and their innocence possibly because he wasn’t able to enjoy his adolescent years and nor did his brother. Holden mentions “‘Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear.
This shows that he is always skeptical and doubtful of trusting people which introduces the theme of phoniness. He is very selective on who he chooses to open up too, his thoughts on the world and people are always very low spirited. Holden uses the word “phony” almost thirty five times, this theme is very important because it shows that he has a
She probably knew what a phony slob he was" (2). He doesn't like people lying for other people, he expects everyone to realize when someone is being phony and call them out on it. Another reason Holden hates phony people is because he believes that you shouldn't be doing things just to look good but you should be doing them with a purpose. This is true, you should live with a purpose, and not just live to achieve personal gain Holden likes to strike out at these people calling them names that aren't nice to say the least. Lastly Holden believes that you become phony when you grow up, when the world corrupts you and you become conforming to everything around you.
Three seconds remain in the tied basketball game. The point guard shoots and the ball goes in right before the buzzer sounds off. I bet for a long time, that player worked hard in the gym to practice and perfect his shooting for game time situations like that. It just goes to show that nothing great can ever be achieved without hard work. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye, however, does not quite understand this saying.
As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong. Youth The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, a novel about a young character’s growth into maturity. While it is appropriate to discuss the novel in such terms, Holden Caulfield is an unusual protagonist for a bildungsroman because his central goal is to resist the process of maturity itself. But he refuses to acknowledge this fear, expressing it only in a few instances—for example, when he talks about sex and admits
If you take her to a pretty good movie, she knows it's a pretty good movie" (37). Holden really values his wonderful connection with her even with the age difference. He really does separate her from everyone else because for him she is the only real person out there. The only real person who is there from him and tries to help him cope with things. The only reason I think they actually really do have a great connection is because they are both so innocent and childish and get along together in that aspect.
The narrative The Catcher In The Rye, by: J. D. Salinger; illustrates the unique but hypocritical thoughts of Holden Caulfield. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden uses the word phony on multiple and various occasions. Although he sees most of the characters in the novel as phonies, he is a phony himself because he lies and pretends he is someone he is not throughout the story. From the scenes with the Mrs. Morrow to the scene with Sunny, Holden lies about who he is to multiple people.
One of the most important facts of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, is clearly his view of the world and his feelings towards the innocence of a child. Holden believes that the world is a corrupted place with corrupted people, and that a child should never grow up. He thinks that every adult or young adult is a phony. To Holden, everywhere he goes there is corruption.
Trying To Look Honest by Hannah T. In the “trying to look tough” passage Holden is trying to be vulnerable with the reader, but he doesn’t know how to and he fears potential judgment. Holden begins the “trying to look tough” paragraph by saying that he “didn’t give a damn how [he] looked. ”(99) as he puts on his hunting hat.
“If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then your not as good anymore.” (Salinger 140) Holden hates how phony adults are, and how they are all acting a part. He will always take a dislike to his own childhood experiences, but he does everything he can to protect others from experiencing bad moments. Holden never had the childhood he dreamed of, and he holds onto the hope that he can provide innocence for Phoebe.
He asked Sally Hayes on a date and asks a people he does not even like to go out with him. It does not make sense how he wants an emotional connection with someone but does not want to make a connection especially with new people. Holden is an extremely judgmental person and judges just about everyone. He believes that everyone is insecure, fake, out to get him or his most common word, “phony.” He has so much to say about everyone but never actually confronts him or her and says it.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a peculiar character portrayed as a skeptic living in “a world of phonies” in circa 1950. These personality traits can be seen through his doubts of society as well as his way of thinking and acting toward others. He also demonstrates a lack of responsibility adding to his role as a slacker. Holden flunks out of school repeatedly and has no desire to confront his parents. He mopes around the city for days, delaying the inevitable punishments he’s sure to get.
He says this because he 's jealous and envious of the other guy because Sally wants to hangout with him for a little. Holden makes her upset and kind of mad because the way he said it was sarcastic and rude. Holden doesn’t like him and is mad that he intruded on their date and Holden says, “...he walked about two blocks with us” (Salinger 142). He didn 't like that. When he meets with Sally she is genuinely happy to be with him in the beginning but right when she sees a boy she knows who is more put together then he is and she wants to engage with him instead.
Also, when Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini patting him on the forehead in the middle of the night, he tells us of similar “perverty” stuff that happened to him multiple times as a child. Therefore, he clearly struggles to trust anyone he both meets and knows, which shows his insecurity and skepticism of others. Another instance of this is Holden’s relationship with D.B. Although Holden says that they were once close, he now considers D.B. as phony because of the work he does in the film industry. In doing so, he loses a close relationship with his brother, just because he feels
Nobody did" (41). In the quote above Holden calls out the Navy guy for being phony because he is dating Lillian Simmons even though he didn 't like her much. Therefore, he is being someone he isn 't and lying to himself.