Holden's Phony Phobia in The Catcher in the Rye What does phony mean to you? Do you consider it something that is not what it really seems? Or even something or someone that isn't normal in all ways or just in some? Phony is one of the words in the English literature that can have numerous interpretations. Can be being phony possibly hinder an attempt to accomplish a task to fully function mentally? Can phony delay an individuals maturing period? In J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Holden's "phony phobia" restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendships, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way. Holden possesses abnormal relationships with some of the characters in Catcher in the Rye. Many of his friends and those he talks highly about are young children. He does not make any negative comments about these companions, and there is no mention whatsoever of phony. Holden has a strong relationship with Phoebee, his younger sister. Holden vocalizes about the fact Phoebee can visit him anytime in the summer, "What I'd do, I'd let old Phoebee came out and visit me in the summertime and on Christmas vacation and Easter vacation" (205). Holden shows a solid liking to his sister and is always wanting her by his side. He finds a hard time associating with older, mature individuals. Also, a strong relationship with Allie his deceased younger brother, is apparent due to the twenty references in the novel. In fact, most of Holden's fondest memories are of those times with his younger siblings. His comments of innocence help establish this connection. Someone who is trying to learn the stages of developing into a mature adult would not develop as soon, or as fully when spending their time solely with those who are five to seven years of age. They would not experience the guidance from older adults to correct wrong behavior. The guidance of an elder isn't present and they need to learn by themselves. Harrison Smith has defined Holden's friendships quite clearly "What was wrong with Holden was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called 'phony' and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s outlook in life is either the innocence of childhood or the cruelty of adulthood. He believes that the innocence of childhood is very valuable and it should be protected from the cruelty and phoniness of the adult world. Therefore Holden has a desire and is compelled to protect a child’s innocence at all costs. This is revealed when Holden tells Phoebe that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says to Phoebe, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re ru...
Holden’s dislike for adult phonies causes him to not want to enter adulthood. Holden fears that if he enters adulthood, he will become a phony, which he loathes. While Holden is listening to Mr. Spencer’s lecture, his mind wanders: “If a boy’s mother was sort of fat or corning-looking or something … then old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile and then he’d talk to someone else’s parents. I can’t stand that stuff. It drives me crazy” (14). Holden’s great hatred for phonies is displayed here. Later on in the book as Phoebe asks Holden why he got kicked out of school, Holden r...
Holden has several insecurities that are displayed throughout the book that hint at his condition. The protagonist’s insecurities are demonstrated in his judgment of others. He criticizes adults on their flaws as he thinks he is the only rational adult in the world, describing all adults as superficial and more importantly “phony.” Holden once referred to his headmaster as a phony when he was talking about his daughter Selma, “She probably knew what a phony slob he was.” (p. 3) Phoebe, Holden’s sister points out, that he does not only hate adults, he hates everything. Holden cannot name one thing he enjoys to satisfy his sister, indicating that he is dissatisfied with his life. Phoebe notes, “You don’t like anything that’s happening.” (p. 169) As Holden attempts to prove her wrong, she realizes something, “You can’t even name one thing.” (p. 171) Holden’s insecurities are a shining example of his mental condition.
...oes want them to turn into “phonies.” Holden seeks for a peaceful and uncorrupt world but he cannot obtain that due to the actions of others. Despite Holden’s attitude and outlook on life, he is quite passionate. Although he is a firm pessimist, calling every person he comes across a “phony,” there is an alternate side to him. In his interaction with Phoebe and the other children in the book, he tries to protect them from the rest of society, since children are still naïve and pure. It is justifiable why Holden craves to preserve the innocence of others. For most of us, growing up, we begin to understand more. We start to look at life in a different perspective, different from the one we did when we were young, but as a person who has seen and experienced more in life.
said by the chorus. This means it is an idea of a group of people
Which is the kind of world he wants to live in. Holden expresses his desire to preserve the innocence of others when his sister Phoebe tells Holden that he doesn't like anything, and that he has no ambitions of what he wants to be when he is older. Holden then explains that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He says that he imagines little children playing on top of a hill and that his job is to protect children from falling of the hill. This symbolizes catching children from losing their innocence and falling into the adult world. Holden tells Phoebe, “I know it crazy, but that is the only thing I’d like to be” (172). This unrealistic desire is contributes to why Holden is struggling to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Critics of the novel have said Holden would like to suspend time stating, “Holden's desire to protect children shows his desire for suspending time, for inhabiting a space of young people conserved endlessly” (Yahya 3). Not letting go of childhood memories or accepting the harsh realities of adulthood are damaging when transitioning from
Throughout the book, Holden is depressed and has very few things he enjoys, but what he really wants to do is become the catcher in the rye. When he talks to his little sister Phoebe, he reiterates the fact that he’d “just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing that I’d really like to be,” and he’s telling the truth (225). Holden complains all the time, about how phony people are, or how he feels like he is the only normal one. He never gives a compliment, or even smiles for the majority of the book. But when he finally talks to someone he enjoys, he realizes what he wants to do: prohibit phoniness from
Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caufield longs for intimacy with other human beings. One of Holden’s main problems is that he sees childhood as the ideal state of being. He thinks that all adults are phonies.
To Holden, everyone is either corny of phony. He uses these terms to describe what a person is if they do not act naturally and follow other people?s manners and grace. Holden dislikes phonies and thinks of them as people who try to be something they are not. He loathes people who showed off because it seems unnatural every time they do not act like themselves. Holden does not allow himself to have friendship because of his dull attitude. In the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Holden is lonely when he separates himself from the rest of the Pencey students by watching the football game from Thomsen Hill and not the grand stands. Holden is not a very sociable person partly because he finds himself better than many others. He dislikes his roommate because of his generic leather luggage. His next door roommate Ackley does not seem to want a friendship with him either. Holden finds Ackely?s zit crusted face ridiculous and doesn?t want him in his room at first. This shows the reader that Holden is a lonely person because he chooses to be lonely and does not want anything to do with people who do not fit into his perception of normal.
Holden spends a majority of the novel on his own. Despite meeting many interesting characters throughout the entirety of the novel, he is never shown making any sort of connection with these characters. With the exception of Phoebe and the nuns, the characters who Holden meets or interacts with only cause him to feel lonelier, which brings Holden even closer to the eventual destruction of his mental state. Holden’s experience at his prestigious high school Pencey Prep is impactful to him as it’s the last time in the novel that he is at a school prior to his mental breakdown. As Holden leaves the campus to travel to New York, he reminiscing his experience by saying “I stood for awhile next to the stairs and took a last look down the goddamn corridor. I was sort of crying, I don’t know why, I put my red hunting hat
The Modern era is classified as the period that started as the World War I ended. There where huge changes in technology. International corporations began to rise in power. They began to “westernize” with values, such as the appeal to industrialization, personal political rights, democracy, a background of knowledge in mass and education, private ownership of the means of production, the scientific method, public institutions, a questioning in God, and the independence of woman. Then by the year 1939 the Second World War took place and as it ended a new literary period began to form. A new period that dates from around the year 1945 to the present day is called Postmodernism. Postmodernism is difficult to define since there are not so many agreement on certain characteristics, and importance of the postmodern literature. This period consists on a development or departure from the modernism. Postmodern literature is much well characterized by the fragmented collection of high and lows in culture that represents the absence of tradition in the world of consumerism. Postmodernism is a time in which authors reject Western values as just only being a small part of the human experience in life. Postmodernism celebrates incoherence, fragmentation and provisional, in contrast of Modernism. The vigor of contemporary literature lies in its cultural diversity, in its enthusiasm for mixing fiction with nonfiction, and in their extraordinary sense of plays. Postmodern literature comments upon itself and uses images from the past fearlessly. Fiction writers of this period allow for multiple meanings and multiple worlds in their works. This can be seen in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.
The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of his family give the reader a direct view of Holden's philosophy surrounding each member.
Fake, deceiving, ungenuine, all these words describe a true phony. Both narrators of the books, The Great Gatsby and The Catcher In The Rye fit the characteristics of a phony. The narrator in The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, is phonier than Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, because he’s a hypocrite, lies about his age,and lies about how he feels.
Holden doesn’t like the complexity of life and relationships. This is why he distances himself from his family and friends. After Holden is expelled from his school, he tries to stay away from his parents for fear of their reaction, even though learning of his expulsion is inevitable. He visits his sister Phoebe in their home multiple times throughout the novel because due to her young age, his sister and his relationship is simple. "For instance, within Holden, the desire to reject others conflicts with the desire to be accepted by others: he doesn't want to lend Stradlater his coat, but his overt actions belie this covert, warring want: he despises Ackley, but he invites him to see a movie; he hates movies, believing them to foster phoniness in society” (Mitchell). Holden struggles to “catch” others because he believes he is not accepted by others.
... a practical form of the drug. This set off a search in medicine for more antibiotics, however, scientists would have to look away from the natural world this time.