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J.d. salinger’s writing style catcher in the rye
J.d. salinger’s writing style catcher in the rye
Analysis of holden caufield character
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Hypocrisy, according to dictionary.com, is the practice of professing standards or beliefs contrary to one's real character or actual behavior. In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the narrator and protagonist, sixteen year-old Holden Caulfield, practices hypocrisy throughout the novel. Caulfield believes that people in society should be who they appear to be and therefore should act accordingly, yet Holden himself is extremely dishonest and not always genuine when interacting with other characters during the novel. Caulfield refers to people that don’t act accordingly as “phonies” in the novel but he himself is being a hypocrite because he gets annoyed when people don’t act accordingly, yet he critically criticizes the people …show more content…
around him and lies to most people he interacts with. When Caulfield gets expelled from his school, Pencey Prep, he spends alone time around New York learning and discovering how people’s behavior where different than what he had previously thought. Throughout the novel Holden Caulfield clearly becomes extremely annoyed by people who may not act as they may appear, even though he is guilty of not being the person he tries so hard to convey he is.
While Holden was on the train in New York he couldn’t do anything except lie when meeting Ernest Marrow’s mother. Morrow’s mother asks what Holden’s name is and Holden replied, ‘Rudolph Schmidt,’… I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolph Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm…” (Salinger 54). This is a clear example of Holden’s phoniness, he is unable to be genuine when interacting with strangers. Though Holden exercises phoniness he gets upset at the Headmaster at Elkton Hills, Mr. Haas. Holden describes Mr. Haas as "the phoniest bastard [he had] ever met in [his] life… [Mr. Haas] went around shaking hands with everybody’s parents when they drove up to school. He’d be charming as hell, and all. Except if some boy had little old funny-looking parents… Then old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile and then he’d go talk, for maybe a half an hour, with somebody else’s parents.” (Salinger 14) Holden is hypocritical by calling Mr. Haas phony when he lied to Ernest Marrow’s mother when she asked a simple question of what his name
is. In the novel, Caulfield constantly talks about his abhorrence for the movies. Holden criticizes, mentioned in the intro, his own brother D.B. for taking time to write movie scripts, “Now he’s out in Hollywood… being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate. It’s the movies.” (Salinger 2). Holden is suggest that he deeply despises the movies and even the people that are involved in making them. Despite the dislike for the movies Holden expressed he still frequently mentions movies he’s seen throughout the novel. Holden described the time at Pencey Prep when the students would “take the bus into Angerstown and have a hamburger and maybe see a … movie.” (Salinger 3) Even though Holden expressed his disgust for anything involving movies he would still go with his fellow students to go see a movie. Therefore, providing another example of Holden practicing hypocrisy throughout the novel in every aspect from people to movies.
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 Caulfield is the narrator of the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. At first introduction, Holden is very judgemental about different characters and seems annoyed about his life. At times, the narrator is rude and has a sarcastic tone towards others when speaking. Holden would be a friend of mine because I enjoy the company of a friend who makes corny jokes.
After spending some time at Mr. Spencer, his history teacher's house and getting lectured regarding his poor efforts in school, Holden fabricates a story to leave his teacher’s house without seeming rude. On his way to his dormitory at Pencey, Holden claims that he is an exceptional liar, and would lie even about the most insignificant facts, such as where he is going. He then goes into detail about whom his dormitory is named after, and how much of a phony the man is.
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
Holden criticizes phonies although he engages in phony conversations and uses 'phony' words. Before he leaves Pencey Prep, in his visit with Mr. Spencer, Holden partakes in an obviously phony conversation. During their talk old Spencer uses the term "grand" (p7) which infuriates Holden, "Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony" (p9). But he had already used the word "nice" (p1) and later uses the word "swell" (p124) both of which are 'phony.' Later, while he was on the train he struck up a phony conversation with Mrs. Morrow. In order to elicit pity from her, and misrepresent himself, he explained his reason for going home early was not that he was flunking classes (the truth) but, that he had "to have this operation" (p58). Holden deceives others by misrepresenting himself and acting phony.
It's awful’” (9). Holden is a phony but does not realize it, even though he realizes very more subtle problems with himself. He should be able to see his own duplicity. Holden is guilty of being a phony is therefore a hypocrite because he is guilty of the insult he throws around. When Holden calls someone a phony he means that person is bogus or fake. Holden is a deceiver and offers no substitute. He tends to call most people he doesn’t like phonies and just tosses the word around. J.D. Salinger wants the reader to be able to spot hypocrisy when judging other people. Holden makes like he seemingly hates everybody but at the end of the book he lets the readers know that he misses everyone. Even though Holden is a phony it’s what makes him such a deep and intriguing
From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently throughout his chronicle. One example is: "...my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all - I'm not saying that - but they're also touchy as hell" (Salinger 1). Holden's father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him "phony" because he views his father's occupation unswervingly as a parallel of his father's personality. For example, when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wants to be when he grows up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion about their father's occupation..
Holden mentions how his father, a lawyer, and his brother D.B., a famous author, do things for the wealth and power, and he finds this wrong and phony. For Holden, the word phony has a much greater meaning than it does to any other person and while the word is commonly used throughout the text when Holden often complains about life like any other teenager, he contradicts himself, lies, and is a phony at times. Holden tells the reader, “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera.
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...
Holden is a pathological liar. He lies, some times for no reason. Holden says his name is Rudolf Schmidt, who is acutely the janitor, to Mrs. Morrow on the train. He continues to lie throughout the conversation and avoids getting together by saying he has a tumor in his brain. This is the type of lies Holden tells. One reason for this might be
“All of a sudden, this girl came up to me and said, “Holden Caulfield!” Her name was Lillian Simmons. My brother D.B. used to go around with her for a while. She had very big knockers”(Salinger 96). Salinger portrays Holden as a whiny teenager that slacks off on his homework and performs illegal acts such as drinking and purchasing prostitutes.
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.
That’s all.” He even goes as far as calling the headmaster, Mr. Haas, “the phoniest bastard” he has ever met in his life. Holden’s frustration stems from Mr. Haas’s insincere behavior, such as flashing a smile and giving a brief handshake to a student's parents, which he found unappealing, whereas spending plenty of time with everyone else’s
Holden Caulfield is a major hypocrite. His actions, words, and thoughts frequently go against things that he has said and done. Earlier in the novel, Holden says that he hates people who just sit around and get drunk. Quote. But as the novel progresses, Holden is caught sitting around at a bar, and he claims he will just sit there and become a drunk bastard. Quote. Holden Caulfield can also be labeled a hypocrite when he says that he doesn’t like people like Stradlater. People who just date a girl just to hook up with them. However, when Holden is in the hotel by himself, he calls a girl that he barely knows and asks her if she wanted a couple of drinks. After he hangs up he admits that his plan throughout the call, was to try to bring her
The symbol I chose was Allie’s Baseball Mitt. Allie’s mitt is a meaningful object because it helps remind Holden of Allie and all the good times they had with each other.