How Is Holden Caulfield Fake

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad,” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This quote couldn’t be more true for the main character of the book, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. The novel centers around a troubled, sarcastic, and bitter teenager named Holden Caulfield. While wearing his signature red hunting cap and a cigarette, seemingly always within reach, Holden often finds himself mixed into horrible situations that could’ve been avoided if he didn’t possess such a biting and impulsive outlook on life. His bitterness stems from his belief that he is surrounded by “phonies”: people who use a fake persona to retain their social status. Yet, Holden himself can

Before Holden’s date with Sally, he decides to walk to the Museum of National History to kill time. He starts to remember back when he had field trips to the museum when he was younger, and admired the fact that nothing ever changed in there. He appreciates how nothing changes and that everything is frozen. He can judge the figures without them judging back. Holden seems to admire the museum for not changing because he seems to hate it when people change and become phony. The museum is a place of great significance to Holden. It takes him back to a time where things were less corrupt and phony. Within his ever changing world the museum stands as one of the few places that help preserve his past. Moreover, it is a cornerstone of safety and security

Although he is reasonably cynical towards people who are conspicuously phony, such as Marty who overtly lies about catching a glimpse of a movie star, his negativity and scathing criticism of others often extends beyond the realm of reason. When discussing fighting, he says, “I can’t stand looking at the other guy’s face, is my trouble. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could be blindfolded or something” (117). Holden’s negativity is so extensive that it even drives him to irrationally resent the face of another man who is challenging him. This testifies to Holden’s struggle with an unusually cynical outlook. Moreover, he resists the formation of intimate relationships with others, finding flaws too great to ignore in every acquaintance. His history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand Holden’s refusal to do schoolwork. He is sorry that he has to fail Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him on a personal level and influence him for the better. However, Holden dismisses him as senile, phony and pathetic and refuses to engage Mr. Spencer. When he wakes up to Mr. Antolini creepily patting him on the forehead, Holden reveals that similar “perverty” stuff happened to him as a child several times. Thus, he clearly struggles with a natural trust deficit with everyone he meets, which explains his insecurity and the brash cynicism he utilizes to justify his alienation from others. Another example of this is Holden’s relationship with D.B. Although he suggests that they were once close, he now considers D.B. a phony because of his work in the film industry. Thus, he sabotages a potential genial relationship and justifies doing so with his prejudices against his brother’s field of work. Holden’s cynicism and alienation from others reveals emotional damage and psychological problems relating to

In the book “The Catcher In The Rye” by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield, the main character, faces many challenges with many different people. He tries to distract himself from the fact that he was kicked out of his school and needs to be home by Wednesday. Holden feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere, so throughout the book he tries to make strong connections with people he meets along the way. Holden made a connection with Jane and Sally throughout the book, although he seems more interested in talking and thinking about Jane more so than anybody else. Stradlater talks about going on a date with some girl Holden has no interest about and actually bothers Stradlater while he is trying to get ready, but once Stradlater tells him his date is

During this time period of loneliness, Holden decides to reach out to another one of his old friends and lover, Sally Hayes. When Sally and Holden are hanging out he realizes how annoying and phony he thinks she is, but to save himself from the fight with her, he concedes and does phony activities that he knows she will like. One of the many things that holden loathes and considers very phony is the movies. He finds everything about them phony and fake, and especially the people that go to see them. Ironically, he finds himself in that exact place on his date with Sally.

“The Catcher in the Rye” is an unbelievable novel. It focuses on the protagonist Holden Caufield. In this essay I will show that Holden is a phony. A ph is someone who is not genuine. In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger the main character Holden Caufield accuses others of being a phony, when in fact he comes across as a phony through his hypocrisy, irresponsibility, and judgment.

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

In the beginning, Holden’s date seems to be going well until Holden shares his fantasy with Sally to, “ drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont,” with her to escape what is happening in the real world because he cannot accept what is happening to him (71). After sharing his fantasy with Sally, his date becomes worse because Sally denies the

Struggling with The Phonies In “The Catcher in The Rye”, Holden continuously talks about how people around him act “phony” and don’t act how they really feel or want to. His cynicism and sarcasm shows what he thinks of others and how he desires authenticity. Salinger made Holden this way to express the desire of every person to find genuine and kind people, but ultimately end up tainted by superficial and hypocritical society. Salinger shows this with how he makes Holden critical of all the shallowness and pretension around him, but doesn’t look at how he acts in the same way. Salinger explains this through Holden’s use of the word “phony”.

The world is full of phonies. This is one of the views that I have in common with Holden Caulfield. To best describe phonies I would say they are shallow, superficial people who choose to embrace life's mundane demands and all march to the same beat. I choose to be solitary over having to engage with phony people because most people do, say, and think only what is socially acceptable and cliche making it hard to relate to them, and the very few people who do understand this different mindset are not always available. Holden and I isolate ourselves from others due to the lack of people willing to understand this different mindset.

Phoniness is one of the key motifs in the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. In Holden's mind, phoniness represents the reality of the adult world that he sees as fake and unrealistic. Holden uses the word phony to describe everything from people to places. This motif is mentioned in the novel at least forty seven times and it is the reader's key to understanding Holden's personality.

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”.

Holden hates those magazines that the steward sells on the train. Holden cites, "I can usually even read one of those dumb stories in a magazine without puking. You know. One of those stories with a lot of phony, lean-jawed guys named David in it, and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia that are always lighting all the goddam Davids' pipes for them" (53). Holden cannot stand that all the stupid same old stories. The ones where there is always a hero and saves someone that is in trouble. After that Holden felt a little down so he decided to pass the time. Holden knows this girl named Sally Hayes. They used to send a lot of time together when they were younger. Holden is bored and decides to give her a call. He calls her and her father answers and then gives the phone to Sally. Sally Hayes picked up the phone and asks, "yes--who is this?" Holden goes on to state, "she was quite a little phony. I'd already told her father who it was" (106). Holden cannot believe that she knows who is calling but asks for no reason. Sally is just trying to play a stupid game that Holden would rather not want to play at any time.

Another female that takes part in Holden's life is Sally Hayes. She is a beautiful but shallow girl that Holden has dated in the past. To Holden's standards, Sally is another "phony" person but her beauty makes Holden put his standards aside for the moment. The unusual thing is that Holden made it clear that he disliked the girl, yet he said that the minute he saw her, he felt like marrying her. On their date together, he tells her that he loved her even though it was a lie, and yet he meant it when he said it. In return, Sally tells Holden that she loved him as well. After exchanging their false feelings for each other, Holden tries to explain what is happening in his life, but she is incapable of understanding his problems.

Holden’s date with Sally Hayes exhibited his difficulty at cooperating with others. At first he gives us a dire impression of Sally, “I wasn’t too crazy about her, but I’d known her for years.” (p. 105) Later, he wants to marry Sally and says he is in love with her. The biggest mystery of all when it comes to women is with Jane Gallagher. Constantly mentioning Jane, Holden recalls playing checkers with her before he got sent to boarding school. When his roommate, Stradlater, has a date with Jane, Holden asks him a peculiar question, “Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?” (p. 42) Holden, jealous of Stradlater’s date with Jane, longs to see Jane but never has the courage to call her. Interactions with other people especially women perplex and overwhelm Holden. He therefore resorts to isolation, illustrating a characteristic of his mental state.