Throughout The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield uses the word “phony” prolifically, using it to describe anything that hits the wrong side of his fancy. Despite Caulfield’s insistence that he hates phoniness, he himself often puts up a false front in various situations. As we will see, Caulfield’s view that most people are liars and fakes expresses disgust not with individual people but with himself and with life as a whole as well as a slightly nostalgic idealization of his memories. Holden describes as phony anything that is, in his opinion, putting up a false front; for example, the principal at his old school or the word “grand.” Sally Hayes earns the title simply because she asked to whom she was talking on the phone. Yet despite the many things that Holden considers to be phony, he rarely is able to defend his views, often reverting to the statement that he can’t explain, and that one had to have been there to understand. For instance, he says when he is talking to Phoebe, “‘God, Phoebe! I can’t explain. I just didn’t like anything that was happening at Pencey. I can’t explain.’” (169) The fact that he is unable to elaborate points towards the idea that Caulfield’s frustration went …show more content…
He truly enjoys their company, even though they don’t remind him of happier times. Why? The answer is, they are not a disappointment. Everything he calls a phony is something he used to or feels he should take pleasure in: school, friends, movies, plays, people. But he has no comparison for two elderly nuns travelling around, carrying the collection baskets that wouldn’t fit in their suitcases, so they can’t disappoint him. Also, Caulfield criticizes people for faults he sees in himself, such as not stopping shenanigans when people ask him to. But one would be hard pressed to find someone less like Caulfield than the nuns. He can enjoy their company because they don’t show him his own
Holden uses the word phony to identify everything in the world that he rejects or encounters with. People are too talkative, too quiet, or dissimilar. Holden, himself, believes he is this perfect person, but no one believes that he is. This is why Holden believes he is surrounded by "phoniness." For example, Ossenburger of Pencey Prep, 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 sees why he would pray to Jesus, only to send him some more dead bodies to get more business. Not only do phonies bug Holden, but liars and crooks. Another example is Sunny and Maurice, the elevator boy. Maurice offers Holden a prostitute for the night, "Innarested in having a little tail t'night" (90)? Holden decides to take up on this offer, and later that night, as promised Sunny knocks at his door. After entering the room, Holden cannot make a decision to sleep with the prostitute, an example of Holden clinging on to his childhood. He instead pays the prostitute for her trouble getting to his room, but after leaving, she barges back in with Maurice, complaining of how little she got. Maurice roughs up Holden and gets to his money, where Holden thinks more deprecate towards phonies and liars. Realizing what a real phony and liar people bound to be growing up, he decides to avoids the real world
Page 38 is a typical example of how Holden values the qualities of purity and innocence. He attempts to throw a snowball against a car and fire hydrant, but quickly refrains from doing so, “the fact that he does not throw the snowball is “an attempt to preserve innocence (graham 2007:39). I strongly agree with this statement, as Holden’s fear of change is highlighted throughout the novel, which in turn paints a clear picture to the reader of Holden’s deepest desire, which is to preserve the innocence of childhood that gets hopelessly lost in the“phony” world of adulthood. Holden’s constant referral to adults as being “phony” is rather ironic as he says that one “wouldn’t” know If one was “being phony” this clearly means that he himself does not realize weather or not he himself is phony.
Holden Caulfield, - notorious for either being kicked out of schools or as he simply describes it “quitting”- having just been kicked out of yet another school for his lack of motivation, views life through a cynical lens as he deems those different from him as “phony”. Holden justifies his annoyance towards everything as he intermittently cuts off his tale to share some random pet peeve or irrelevant story, such as when he describes his roommate Stradlater as a “secret slob” (Salinger, 35) and continues on to critique his grooming habits, in an effort to validate how “phony” things really are. However, these tactics only further show his immaturity as Holden’s judgment of being a “phony” symbolizes his fear of growing up. Moreover, Holden’s greatest defense mechanism is pushing others away, this is seen as Holden visits his history teacher, Mr. Spencer and while he tries to
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...
From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word “phony” to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who are“phony”, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden’s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character’s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character.
Some people feel all alone in this world, with no direction to follow but their empty loneliness. The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger, follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who despises society and calls everyone a “phony.” Holden can be seen as a delinquent who smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol, and gets expelled from a prestigious boarding school. This coming-of-age book follows the themes of isolation, innocence, and corrupted maturity which is influenced from the author's life and modernism, and is shown through the setting, symbolism, and diction.
Sally Hayes is dim person whose phoniness blinds her from Holden’s cries for help and dismisses him when he needs her most, her phoniness changes Holden and he himself is forced into bad decisions because of it.
Throughout “The Catcher in The Rye” Salinger explores the idea phoniness through Holden’s perspective. His perspective on phoniness revolves around a person who is not true to themselves to impress people, therefore they hide their identity and true personality. As I begin to learn about Holden’s character, I observed that he is drawn to individuals who are transparent based off the way they act. In the beginning of Catcher in The Rye Holden tells the reader that he doesn’t like many people at school, however he enjoys the company of the headmaster's daughter. Holden states that “I liked her. She had a big nose and her nails were all bitten down and bleedy-looking and she had on those damn falsies that point all over the place, but you felt
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 constantly referring to others, throughout the book, as being phony. In The Catcher in the
Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he classifies each family member.
Throughout "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield always points out the people that are phony. This usually means that the person isn't true to themselves or tends to lie a lot. He uses the word frequently to describe people and assumes that most people are phony. He uses it to describe people he has never even met before. The people that are interested in how they look or appear more than how they really are. The people that don't say a lot of honest...
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.
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.