There comes a time in every person’s life when they begin to take notice of the fake people that exist in the world around them. For main character, Holden Caulfield, in J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, this time begins in Holden’s teenage years. As he begins to observe the authenticity of the people in he encounters, he notices a vast difference between those he identifies as phony over those who are true to themselves. Holden is a teenage boy, who attends the school of Pencey Prep, but is later kicked out due to the minimal effort he puts into his schoolwork. He then decides to seek out New York, where he encounters new people in the ‘adult world’. There are several instances where he makes a personal judgement as to whether …show more content…
He is disgusted by the great amount of people ‘selling themselves’ in the world. For instance, Holden claims to despise reading magazines that feature “a lot of phony, lean-jawed guys named David in [them], and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia”(110). Holden’s roommate in school, Stradlater, is another example of someone Holden would consider a phony. Stradlater is described as being a ‘secret slob,’ meaning he always looked good, yet he had a filthy razor, for instance. Stradlater is “mostly a Year Book kind of handsome guy” (56), who appears a better person in pictures, than he truly is. In addition, Stradlater takes advantage of the girls he dates Holden decides his roommate is a phony because when better known, Stradlater isn’t as picture-perfect as he appears. Next, Holden senses insincerity and phoniness in a piano player he encounters. The piano player has a flashy style of playing, as to win the affection of the audience, rather than playing from his heart. Holden categorizes the audience of the piano player as phonies as well. He can’t believe the audience acts “exactly like the same morons that laugh like hyenas in the movies at stuff that isn't funny”
J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationships he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up, and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.
In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger,Holden the main character tries to take on adult and mature situations but finds himself in reality not getting very far. Holden Caulfield who goes to Pencey has failed four out of five classes and gets the notice that he is being expelled from the school. He leaves the school and goes out and tries to adventure into the real world. Holden takes on many challenges and obstacles throughout the book . Although Holden wants to be independent many people perceive Holden in numerous different ways to his actions and feelings. Faith and Stradlater both perceive Holden as irritating, when in reality he tries to distract himself from being depressed. For example when Holden was in the phone
In Holden's eyes, society has influenced people to lose themselves. He is outraged by how easily citizens would bend to the ways of society to fit and prevail in it. He claims his own brother, D.B.--a talented writersold out his potential to Hollywood. In his mind, D.B. could be viewed as a prostitute that would sell himself, or his services, to whoever was the highest bidder. Ernie is too portrayed in such a way as D.B. is, as the accomplished and gifted pianist was depicted as using his talent to gain fame and money. Holden found himself disgusted by Ernie's corniness and the way of showing off his talent when passionately playing the piano to entertain as well as amazing the public. Stradlater also is represented as someone that sold out, not by his talents, but by his appearance. Holden angrily referred to him as a real hot-shot for taking advantage of his looks to get any kind of favors done. Disappointment, anger, and frustration filled Holden's heart as he saw these people giving away their innate abilities for something that would not last forever; fame and money.
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
Holden uses the word phony to identify everything in the world that he rejects. He always sees something wrong with everybody. People are too talkative, too quiet, or just weird. He thinks that he is the perfect person but no one believes that he is. With this, Holden believes that he is surrounded by "phoniness." Holden lives in Ossenburger Hall, which is named after a wealthy Pencey graduate who made a fortune in the discount funeral home business. Ossenburger went to the chapel and made a speech that lasted about "ten hours." Holden goes on to say that he cracked about fifty corny jokes and then Ossenburger emphasizes that "he talked to Jesus all the time, even when he was driving his car." Holden thinks this is a load of crap and asserts, "'that killed me. I just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs" (17). Holden can't believe what he just heard. He sees this big "phony" praying to Jesus to send him some...
The world today is very deceptive and phony. J.D. Salinger’s well known novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey attack this fake and superficial society which is evident through the lives, ideas, actions, and words expressed by the characters in these literary pieces. The transition from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood is inevitable. The protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through this stage and finds himself in a crisis. He alienates himself from everyone who is around him and tries his best not to grow up. Holden often dwells upon his childhood and the life he had with his family. Franny in Franny and Zooey has already passed this stage but finds it difficult to live in a world where everyone she is surrounded by is only concerned with outward appearances. In these worlds, both characters, Holden and Franny, reveal their struggle of growing up and trying to live as an adult in a world full of deception and shallow-minded people who only care about appearances.
Lies are all too common, in the world of Holden Caulfield. J.D. Salinger’s timeless classic, the Catcher in the Rye, is a coming-of-age story, in which the protagonist, Holden, flees from his school, Pencey Prep, after he is expelled, wanting to leave on his own terms. Following this, he spends several days in New York City, waiting to go home until the day he was supposed to return from school. When examined more closely, the events of the plot make it evident that Holden is more in flight from lies than in search of truth, because he is simply running away from everything, and has no idea where he is going, or what he is doing.
"`I'm just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don't they?'"( pg. 15) In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year-old who is disgusted at all the phony people in the world. For example where artists sacrifice their art for fame and mothers cry fake tears in movies. The importance of not being phony and being honest is the theme that Salinger presents in this story. Holden had difficulty fitting in at school and around the real world.
In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an example of a prosaic rich adolescent boy,with a pedestrian set of problems, but a psychoanalysis reveals that Holden has a plethora of atypical internal conflicts. Internal conflicts that other students at Pencey, such as Stradlater and Ackley, would not normally experience.
J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden's encounters with other people. He divides all people into two different categories, the "phonies" and the authentics. Holden refers to a "phony" as someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite, or has manifestations of conformity. A person's age, gender, and occupation, play a key role in how Holden interacts with them.
Holden lies about his identity to the people he encounters. He always changes his personality, actions, and behaviour according to the people he is around. After leaving Pencey Prep early, Holden meets his fellow classmate Ernest Morrow’s mother on the subway. All Holden does during their conversation is lie about himself and Ernest. When Mrs. Morrow asks Holden why is he going home early? Holden replies, “I have to have this operation … I have this tiny little tumor on the brain” (Salinger, 58). Instead of telling Mrs. Morrow the truth about being expelled, he lies and hides the truth. He is inconsiderate of others emotions. He does this because he feels more secure in lying to others about himself rather than telling them the truth. Furthermore, Holden changes his not only his opinion on people, but himself as well. Before meeting Sally Hayes for their date, Holden says that Sally is that she is fake and phony and he does not like her. However, after she arrives for their date he says, “We [horse] around a little bit in the cab on the way over to the theater. At first, she [doesn’t] want to, because she [has] lipstick on and all, but I [am] being seductive as hell and she [doesn’t] have any alternatives … when we [are] turning out of this big clinch, I [tell] her I [love] her and all” (Salinger, 125). Holden is changes his behavior by flirting with Sally. He does this to show her that he “likes” her. He is deceiving Sally into believing that he actually likes her. However, Holden is only acting this way because he needs somebody to spend time and fool around with so he does not feel depressed. Sally is only a mere distraction to Holden. Therefore, Holden is a phony to others because he changes who is really is to create a better and improved version of himself to fit in and be liked by
At first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye simply tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is often characterized as annoying and whiny by the people around him. The anti-hero frequently speaks on impulse, making quick and often inaccurate observations of others. Holden’s immature and overly critical attitude turns off those he encounters, who are displeased with how callow he is. However, what these characters fail to understand is that there is actually a sort of sophistication behind Holden’s reasoning. In fact, throughout the novel, Holden disguises his maturity through outward displays of childishness.
Whether it’s through psychology, neurology, or philosophy, human beings have wondered for generations what it is to be genuine. There is no definite answer, but what most of us do agree upon is what it is not to be genuine or to be phony. According to Dictionary.com phony is defined as “false or deceiving; not truthful; insincere or deceitful; affected or pretentious”. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, we learn through Holden Caulfield’s experiences how vast the number of phonies the human population is made up of. As Holden points them out left, right, and center one begins to wonder if phoniness is just a part of our human nature and that everyone has somewhat of an aspect of it to them, even Holden himself. Holden is so engulfed
In Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, while the narrator Holden thinks about and discusses Catholicism and having faith the word “bastard” or “phony” is always integrated into his ideas. Salinger’s repetition of the words “bastard” and “phony” in scenes discussing religion effectively characterizes Holden as someone with little faith, and a person with belief in only concrete ideas. While Holden reflects on his time at Pencey, he thought about the person that donated to the construction of his dorm Ossenburger. Holden had a vivid memory about a speech Ossenburger presented to his dorm about always praying to Jesus even while he was in the car. Holden considered Ossenburger stupid for relying on Jesus to keep him safe, “He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving his car. That killed me. I can just see the big phony