Catcher In The Rye Phony Analysis

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

Holden is the biggest hater of phonies, and at the same time, he is the biggest phony in the novel. In this novel, being phony is somewhat equivalent to being an adult. Holden wants to be seen like an adult. For this reason, he smokes and drinks heavily, and goes as far as being involved with prostitution. For people like Stradlater and adults, these are rather normal from their perspective. However, for Holden, they become paradoxes, as he absolutely loathes phoniness. Nearly all aspects of society, including movies, matinees, people’s behaviors, and even simple social interactions like conversations, are criticized by Holden for being phony. For example, during his date with Sally, Sally’s conversation with a guy they met at the matinee “killed [Holden]…it was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life” (Salinger 127). In a hope to make Sally understand his views on phonies, Holden says, “‘Take cars,’… ‘I don’t even like old cars. I mean they don’t even interest me. I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake’” (Salinger 130). Then again, Holden becomes the phoniest person shortly after. He asks Carl Luce,

So these memories have clustered in his mind. Now, Holden wants to even try and erase his mind of the thoughts of the people he cannot trust. To Holden, especially, to trust someone means to understand someone. The only people Holden can, or used to trust are Allie, Phoebe and his brother D.B. So the way J.D. Salinger has illustrated his book of how Holden thinks is that Holden rejects everyone who is phony or fake. So the definition of phony, to Holden is some one that he distrusts. Holden thinks Mr. Antolini is a phony because he just cannot seem to understand him. Also he thinks that the Show-off piano player was phony because he can't understand what exactly he was playing so Holden cannot trust him, therefore the piano player is a phony.

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

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

This directly correlates with Holden’s dubbing of many people, practices, or labeling things as “phony.” He refers to the school and each of the students individually as “phony,” and calling out, “Sleep tight, ya morons!”(59) when he leaves Pencey for the last time. This demonstrates Holden’s use of “phoniness” to describe anything that doesn’t meet his

The relationship between Holden and the "phonies" shows how Holden despise the society at first. Whenever he meets people he thinks they are "phony" he would criticize them. For instance during the intermission of the play, the conversation between Sally and George

Holden’s mental definition of a phony is not exactly as what is expected. To Holden, a Phony is an emblem for someone who has allowed maturity to take away their innocence. Throughout the book we see that he is bothered by the hypocrisy and ugliness of adulthood and growing up. Holden’s central goal is to resist the process of maturity itself and deny the human condition, which is reality. We are shown this through the relationship between Holden and his younger sister Phoebe.

The word phony has a negative connotation on it, and Holden isn’t necessarily trying to be a phony. Holden is on a journey of self discovery, and that could be why he keeps most of his thoughts in his head. Holden also has to be honest, since he is telling his whole story to a psychoanalyst. At the end of the book it says, “A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I’m going to apply myself when I go back to school next September” (Salinger 214). Holden is upset with how his life is treating him, and he's upset about the loss of his brother.

     In life there comes a time when everyone thinks that they are surrounded by phoniness. This often happens during the teen years when the person is trying to find a sense of direction. Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction in J.D. Salinger's, "The Catcher In The Rye." Holden has recently been expelled from Pency Prep for failing four out of his five classes. He decides to start his Christmas recess early and head out to New York. While in New York Holden faces new experiences, tough times and a world of "phony." Holden is surrounded by phoniness because that is the word he uses to identify everything in the world that

He uses the term phony when he does not like something or he cannot understand it. Holden reveals his inability to move on from Allie’s death. I think that the source of Holden’s ailments comes from Allie, but not from his death. At the end of the book, Holden said that he had experienced pervy things in his life since he was a kid, in regards to Mr. Antolini. I do not think that Holden was molested as a child, he may have been in the presence of a person who was a child molester.

He recognizes that children are not phonies, they say what they want, do what they want, and do not care what others think. However, he sees that adults are the exact opposite. Their world, the phony world, is something he has no interest in being part of. As a result, Holden distances himself from maturing, consequently preventing any meaningful interaction from occurring for the duration of the novel. Holden uses phoniness to define himself subconsciously. When he labels everyone around him as phony he gives himself an excuse to alienate himself from others.

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

In his novel The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger presents the case of Holden Caulfield being stuck in immaturity and his inability to connect with people, and in his cynicism, he thinks everyone is a phony when the irony is he’s just sensitive. Throughout the novel, Holden continuously presents contradictory and phony behavior to protect himself from the pain and disappointment by alienating himself.

I would love to talk to J.D. Salinger about Holden’s view of the youth. Salinger shows Holden as someone who thinks children are sincere, caring, and innocent. In contrast, most of the adults are portrayed as phony, selfish bastards. Does Holden really believe all children are pure? Or is he inlove with a fantasy, the imaginary world he made in his head of the childhood he wishes he had? If he met me, a teenager in this generation, will he feel I'm a pure or that I'm someone who is phony? And what does Holden view himself as? With the thoughts of sex and death that race in his head, he certainly shouldn’t be labeled as innocent. However, since he sees the fakeness in the world, and doesn’t agree with it, he isn't exactly a phony. So what is