When walking around in a random city, people often judge strangers without necessarily getting to know them very well. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield marks many people as phonies without getting to completely know them. During his trip through New York City, Holden Caulfield meets many people, and most of the people he judges right away. Holden Caulfield shows that he is very judgmental even if he does not know the person, by noticing only kids as innocent, marking most adults as phonies and trying to save kids from growing old and becoming corrupt.
When walking around in a random city, people often judge strangers without necessarily getting to know them very well. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield marks many people as phonies without getting to completely know them. During his trip through New York City, Holden Caulfield meets many people, and most of the people he judges right away. Holden Caulfield shows that he is very judgmental even if he does not know the person, by noticing only kids as innocent, marking most adults as phonies and trying to save kids from growing old and becoming corrupt.
Holden Caulfield is a very judgmental person because he marks only kids as innocent. “You take adults, they look lousy when they are asleep, but kids don’t. Kids look alright.” In this quote he makes fun of adults but he states that kids are admirable when they sleep. This quote takes place when Holden goes home to see Phoebe and she is sleeping. He just sits there and admires her, he also states that it is even acceptable if a child’s mouth is completely open and there is drool coming out. His main point here is that children lose their i...
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...ers do their jobs to actually save one’s life because they cared about him or her or just because they wanted to “be a terrific lawyer”. Another question that he asked to the lawyers and later answers is how they would know if they “weren't being a phony? The trouble is you wouldn't.”(Salinger 172). The job of a lawyer is to prove a man or woman innocent, whether he or she is or is not. This make Holden think that being a lawyer is a phony job.
A subject that Holden talks exclusively toward phoniness is his school Pencey. “At Pencey, one is expected to play the game, … "game of Life.”(Pinsker). Holden explains that this game that they talk about is rubbish, if one gets on the good side with all the good people this “game” is very exciting, but if one gets on the side with all the losers than there is no fun because the hotshots just beat the losers up.
Since Holden was isolated from his family, in order to not get hurt again he tries to find hypocrisy in people to stop himself from trusting others. Holden feels isolated after being sent to a boarding school that “was full of phonies” by his parents (Salinger 90). Salinger’s message to the audience with this quote is that when
Holden often talked about how phony people in his life were, however, he was also a phony, which made him a hypocrite. Holden would often mention things he hated that someone did, but sooner or later Holden was guilty of doing the exact same thing. In chapter one Holden is hypocritical towards his older brother, D.B. He says “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute.”(Salinger
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 rejects.
The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is a story about a young man named Holden Caulfield. In the novel, Holden first gets expelled from school, meanders around the city, and finally his parents are informed of his expulsion. For the duration of the novel the reader has a full insight into his thoughts and feelings. This leads the reader to choose whether they believe he is a misfit or if society is the problem. As evident by examples in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye the author shows Holden as the misfit because of his failure to tolerate “phonies”, his inability to understand everyone grows up, and his neglect towards his education.
A human society is often described as a group of people involved in persistent personal relationships, or as a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory. People tend to believe that doing what everyone else does, is the only correct path for life. If someone dares to break the pattern, does what he wants, or wears different clothes from what everybody else wear, he would frequently be seen as a strange or weird person. This is not it, every little thing someone does that differs from what it is “normal”, is seen as bad or bizarre. Holden Caulfield, of “Catcher in the Rye” is a character who stands out from common people. Holden doesn’t believe that he needs to follow what everyone else does. Contrary to that, Holden does what he wants and acts how he likes. By acting like this, Holden is not considered as a normal teenager, but as a unique one. Caulfield has often trouble fitting in society. Holden won’t fit into society because he doesn’t want to be a part of it. Hints displaying Holden not wanting to be part of society are his constant failing at school, his powerful revulsion for “phony” qualities, and his distancing himself from people.
To Holden ever one is a “phony”, and every one has a problem that he feels he needs to exploit. While Holden is speaking to the psychiatrist, he criticizes each person as he meets them in his story.
Nobody is perfect. This makes it easy to judge people around us. In the book Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is extremely harsh when judging others. Judging people is a natural thing to do, however, you should not judge people so critically. Before judging others people should look at themselves. Holden is often pushing people away because of the unrealistic expectations he has. He doesn’t look at the problems he has, but instead looks at everyone else's problems. Holden judges people by their appearance and every little action they do. I do not admire Holden and his beliefs.
He believes all adults possess an aura of "phoniness." His disgust with everyone around him reveals his fear of growing up. Holden exhibits insecurity, and to make himself feel better, he exercises the power to condemn people for the way they behave. He believes hypocrisy is evident in every adult he sees...
J.D Salinger in the Catcher in the Rye said “The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one”. This quote means a mature man wants to help others while an immature man is all about himself. Holden is self-centered person . He is an immature boy ,who doesn't like change and kept stating that mature people are phonies.
Holden shows a particular liking towards children over adults. He values the innocence and authenticity of children and he tries to protect them from the phoniness and evil of the world. When he goes back to his old school at the end of the novel to give a note to Phoebe, he sees an obscenity on the wall that infuriates him. He says, "Somebody'd written `F*** you' on the wall. It drove me near damn crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it" (201). When Holden's sister Phoebe demands that he tell her one thing that he really likes, Holden's responds saying, "I like Allie...And I like doing what I'm doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking and thinking about stuff..." (171), showing that he's most content in the simple and innocent world of his childhood.
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Judging others is a natural characteristic for humans, but many take it too far. From sharing their opinion when unnecessary to making rude comments towards another with no lack of remorse, people fail to realize the effects that judging others can have on their behavior and emotions. Holden Caulfield, from J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, underscores this concept. Throughout Salinger’s novel, the reader obtains the conclusion that Holden is extremely judgmental of those around him. Holden’s critique of others is a defense mechanism based on fear because he feels judged by the adult world that surrounds him; he in turn pushes his feelings upon other people to justify his own thoughts, hiding behind a “phony” exterior that he has created to deflect the criticism he feels from others.
Holden is driven crazy by phoniness, an idea under which he lumps insincerity, snobbery, injustice, callousness, and a lot more. He is a prodigious worrier, and someone who is moved to pity quite often. Behrman wrote: "Grown men sometimes find the emblazoned obscenities of life too much for them, and leave this world indecorously, so the fact that a 16-year old boy is overwhelmed should not be surprising" (71). Holden is also labeled as curious and compassionate, a true moral idealist whose attitude comes from an intense hatred of hypocrisy. The novel opens in a doctor's office, where Holden is recuperating from physical illness and a mental breakdown.
It is a worldwide known concept that communication among different people is a necessity of one's life if it is to be a happy one. Human companionship is something everyone will do anything for. Yet, some people have difficulties in communicating with others especially when they see problems among the people they try to communicate with. In this novel, "The Catcher in the Rye," the author, J.D. Salinger, illustrates the protagonist's difficulty in communicating with other people, especially with the women he encounters throughout the novel. The reader can see Holden Caulfield's failed attempts to communicate with people. In the conversations Holden has with people, he usually makes up lies or ends up embarassing them or himself. In others, he usually ends up being hostile towards them. Yet, it seems obvious that the reason for his failed attempts of communication is because he won't allow people to express themselves as they are. He automatically assumes that they are "phony" because of their first impression towards him. He won't give them a chance to express themselves unless he decides that their first impression towards them makes them "likeable".
Many of the times that Holden criticizes people, it is something he does himself. (Pg 13) “. one of the reasons I left Elkton was that I was surrounded by phonies.” Holden himself is many times what he refers to as a “phony”. He knows that he lies and pretends to like people that he would rather not be with.