Catcher In The Rye Analysis

Throughout the book Holden describes phoniness in different ways and what each person he is describing that is phony. In the beginning of the book Holden believes that everyone at Pencey Prep are phonies because they are more interested in becoming a part of soceity to look good. He also feels that people at Pencey Prep don’t say anything honest and are super judgy. In the 4th chapter he says that people in movies are phonies beause they use fake emotions and lie in the part that they are playing. Overall in the book holden uses the word phony as that when people lie or have a certain tone to ther voice that seems phony.

The “Phony” In Holden Caulfield In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, the character Holden Caulfield shows his dislike towards other characters in the novel by characterizing them as “phonies”. People who are dishonest when self representing themselves for their own self interest are usually judged by Holden. Holden has high standards for other people especially adults and often characterizes other characters who do not meet his standards as “phonies” but he often behaves similarly to them.

In Catcher in the Rye very early on in the book Holden admits to being a liar. Yet, Holden embodies most of the archetypal truth-tellers in some form. Holden isn't necessarily deceiving the reader for any personal gain, nor is he flat out insane he's just a kid telling a story. Humans, in general, are unreliable narrators, teenagers especially so. The point of having the narrator(Holden Caulfield) is that it firmly places you into the story and with a perspective.

Holden insults people and calls them phony because it makes him feel better when anyone turns him down. For example as soon as he walks into the Lavender Room, which is a nightclub, he’s analyzing others. “(pg.69) At the table right next to me, there were these three girls around thirty or so. The whole three of them were pretty ugly, and they all had on the kind of hats that you knew they didn’t really live in New York, but one of them, the blonde, wasn’t to bad.”

Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye we see Holden struggling to make connections with many different people and Phoebe being the only person he really trusts. The book shows us in a couple different ways how much of a problem recognizing uniqueness really is for him through Holden's attitude about people, his values for only true friendships, and his system to cope with rejection from others. Holden's attitude towards the way he thinks people really are is very prominent in the book. He uses the word phony countless times as a way of describing a person. Anytime anyone tries to have a conversations with someone he blocks them out because he feels as though they are just liars who are bragging about things that aren't even

It can be seen that there are many things which discomforts Holden Caulfield throughout the novel. “Phoniness,” which is probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye, is one of Holden’s favorite concepts. This word describes the absurdity and artificiality that Caulfield encounters in the world around him. Sanford

Why would Holden call others phony when he is a phony himself? Holden’s repetitive use of the word phony throughout the novel begins to show his true colors. Some examples of him calling others phony is the headmaster, the actual school Pencey Prep, Ossenburger, Sally Hayes, Stradlater, also people he did not know. J.D. Salinger reveals Holden’s “phoniness” to the audience through his hypocritical use of the words fake and phony. Holden attends the school Pencey Prep, he says his headmaster as well as the school and everyone in it is a phony, he describes it as “one of the worst schools I ever went to.

Phoniness is Holden’s way of describing all of the superficiality, dissimulation, and pretension that he encounters in the world around him. Holden believes that inevitably, adults are phonies who can never see their own phoniness and his observations aren’t entirely inaccurate. He is so aware of the behavior of those surrounding him and throughout the novel he does encounter multiple characters who seem to meet Holden’s prediction of inevitable phoniness like Sally Hayes, Carl Luce and Maurice and Sunny. Phoniness for Holden stands as a symbol for everything that is wrong in his world and gives him an excuse to withdraw himself from it.

However, instead of acknowledging that adulthood scares him, he tries to create a fantasy in which adulthood is all full of phonies and childhood is all filled with innocence. Throughout the novel we see Holden try to cling on to his own childhood but also in turn he wants to prevent others from exiting their childhood. This is optimized when he talks about himself wanting to ‘ be the catcher in the rye and all.’ From this quote we learn that Holden perceives adulthood as something that just happens and you don’t see it coming. He wants to stop people and prevent them from entering adulthood, which he likens to being like falling off of a cliff; “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” .

Holden cannot handle accepting blame for his shortfalls. This is evident in the way he retells his story. Holden repeatedly tells the reader outrageous claims about his character. However when he ends up coming short on these expectations, he backtracks his previous statements in order to shift the blame away from himself. When he first discusses his fight with Stradlater he says, “All I know was I

Although Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to

In conclusion, Holden is a phony because because he pretends to be someone that he is not, he contradicts himself, and he blames others for things that he is responsible for. Holden, making such a big deal about phonies ended up being one. This shows that no matter what you do, the society will always play a big role in influencing one’s behavior and the way that one

Holden knew Ackley was lying about his summer, so, he called Ackley a phony. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield 's perspective on people give the reader a different and unique point of view. What is phoniness? According to the Merriam Webster dictionary a phony is a person who is not honest or sincere who says things that are meant to deceive. Therefore, phoniness is someone who doesn 't act as themselves, they deceive people by acting like someone they aren’t, even themselves.

Holden understands the fact that humans embrace phoniness. He understands that it is a coping mechanism that offer humans a sense of safety, even though it is like hiding behind a mask. Furthermore, phoniness is a timeless theme that one can find in both Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, modern society, and many time periods.

It is the “phoniness” he wants to blame. Salinger used “phony” this word many times in the book and is one of the most famous word from “The Catcher in the Rye” and it accurately describes the human nature of most adults’. During Holden’s three-day-trip in New York, he has met and encountered with many characters who are pretentious and fake, from Mr. Spencer to Luce and Sally. In society people have to lie or be “phony” just to socialize, or impress someone. Holden is a judgemental person who keeps observing other people’s phoniness but never notices them in himself.