When Does Holden Lie

When he comes back from the bar late at night, he encounters the elevator man and tells him to send a prostitute to his suite, yet he fails in his sexual relationship with her because of his sexual innocence caused by his isolation. When the prostitute arrives, Holden tries to avoid any sexual talk, he then tells her that he does not want to do it, he says, “I’ll pay you and all, but do you mind very much if we don’t do it? […] the trouble was, I just felt more depressed than sexy” (Salinger 96). Holden

“I felt like jumping out the window.” (104) Holden has just been attacked by the man whom he met in the elevator. THe man says that Holden owns him for the girl that he bought for the night he already paid $5 and sent her on her way. The author uses characterisation to show depressed undertones, and an overall sense of sadness and bitterness within Holden himself. The external conflict is between Holden and the man in the elevator.

The conversation illustrates key aspects of Holden’s character. His silent contempt for adults, which are evidenced by the silent

Holden Caulfield “was sixteen” (11) when lying about his in his story. He makes false impressions about his age to get way with doings that he may not be enable to do a sixteen year old. When having an interaction via the phone with Faith Cavendish, a woman that Holden had gotten the address to from “a guy [he] met” (71). When Faith answered the phone, Holden “made [his] voice quite deep,” (71) so that she would not suspect his age. She made a later comment in the conversation telling holden that he sounds “a little on the young side,” but Holden told her that was a compliment to sound mature. Since faith was not really “a whore or anything” (71). Holden did not want to be caught being sixteen, since she may not want to hang out with a teenager.

“ If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late? Nobody.” In this quote, Holden’s desire and rebellion at the social standards are shown by his take on the value of

Holden extraordinarily wanted someone to feel to his mental struggle. He really wanted to express himself. When the stripper come Holden "Don't you feel like talking for a while?" () I asked her. It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar.”

Sometimes you get tired of riding in taxicabs the same way you get tired riding in elevators” (88). During the walk back to the hotel, Holden was having a mental conversation with himself. He was planning what to say to the person who had stolen his gloves. In the morning, Holden decided to call Sally Hayes and made a date with her. When it came to their date, Holden described Sally as, “ She had one of those very loud, embarrassing voices when you met her somewhere” (124). When their date was over, Holden was sort of hungry, so he went to the drugstore. When he ate some food he bought at the drugstore, he got some drinks and got drunk. “I was too drunk, I guess. So what I did, I gave old Sally Hayes a buzz” (150). They talked for awhile, but Sally hung up on him after awhile. When Holden isn’t drunk anymore, he decided to visit his younger sister Phoebe at home. When Phoebe saw Holden, she was super excited to see her brother again. “She’s very affectionate. I mean she’s quite affectionate, for a child.Sometimes she’s even too affectionate” (161). After talking for awhile, Holden left and called up Mr. Antolini. “He was about the best teacher I ever had, Mr.

When he at Penn Station, he didn’t know anyone to call, so he take a cab to the Edmont Hotel. Page 60-70: When Holden arrive at the hotel, he only to find out that across his window there’s a man dresses in women’s clothing and a couple who’s kissing each other. He was feeling weird so he call Faith Cavendish.

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.

This passage proves that Holden is dissatisfied with the boys at his school, he believes they are fake and he does not social well with them. Although Holden doesn’t want to interact much, when he does end up interacting with people, he usually gets the short end of the stick. For instance he invites Ackley, a boy he meets at Pency Prep, along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. ‘“I’m not worried about it. Only, I’d hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and found some guy-”’ (Salinger 49). Another instance is when Holden pays Sunny even though they don’t have sex, and ends up getting scammed. At a young age, Holden lost his younger brother, Allie. This had a huge traumatizing effect on him; Holden felt useless because he was unable to help his brother. Holden turns his emotions into anger; stating that he punched out all the windows in the garage. Another time Holden felt unable to help was when his peer, James Castle, was harassed and bullied, leading to James’s suicide. Holden says, “... and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him”’ (Salinger 170). Holden feels that society had

Holden is sexually attracted to her although she is in her forties. He admits that “I don’t mean I’m oversexed or anything like that-although I’m quite sexy” (Salinger 70). The attractive woman turns out to be Mrs. Morrow, the mother of another Pencey prep student. She is interested in Holden because of the Pency sticker on his luggage. Despite Holden’s adultlike offers of cigarettes and drinks, Mrs. Morrow deflects any sexual attraction and makes her motherly status quite clear.

In The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden lies a lot for many reasons. Holden will lie to anyone in order to hide his past from others and create a ‘new him’, gain pitty, and entertainment. He lies to complete strangers, friends, family members, and even the person who is closest to, his sister, Phoebe. Holden hopes to create a new version of himself when he lies. He uses lying to feel good about himself and to cover up that he is depressed and sad about his brothers death. Holden considers himself a professional lier and finds himself constantly lying.

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.

Many boys his age are growing up and starting to have this strong desire to women. Holden on the other hand has a desire to women but not in the same way most boys his age do. This makes Holden even more alone because he can’t relate to one of the main thing guys talk about at his school. Holden deals with this by hiring a prostitute to come to his home. Holden believes “if she’s a prostitute and all, I could get in some practice on

Holden is stuck in his own world of isolation, he tries to cope with his isolation but just ends up drowning in self loneliness. Holden tries to call someone after he leaves Pencey Prep “The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz […] but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My brother D.B. was in Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe […] was out. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz […]. Then I thought of calling this girl […] Sally Hayes. […] I thought of calling […] Carl Luce. […] “ So I ended up not