Holden Caulfield Phony

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger offers a protagonist to identify with. Holden Caulfield is a conflicted teenager that struggles with angst and anxiety about the adult world. He has a legitimate desire throughout the novel to search for beauty in human contact but is consistently shut down by the world’s ugliness. His hunger for something truthful is what causes him to be lonely. Although Holden preaches about phonies , he is guilty of being one himself. He shields himself from things relating to the adult world in order to protect himself from it’s deception. Ultimately the world proves to be too much for Holden as his apathy dissolves and spends time in a psychiatric ward.
Holden resents the adult world but is tempted by its trappings.

To Holden, sex is suppose to be between two people who deeply care about each other. The notion of casual sex infuriates Holden because both partners are not respected. “Give her the time in the Ed Banky’s goddamn car ? . My voice was shaking something awful”.(chapter 6)The conversation between Holden and Stradlater shows Holden’s conflict with sex . Holden is not envious of the relationship between Julie and Stradlater but is angry that Julie would engage in casual sex. Holden can’t bring himself to respect a girl that he’s lusting after because sex would disrespect her. Despite Holden having little experience with women , the way he interacts with them is admirable. He stops making sexual advances when girls say no and has trouble being intimate with a girl unless he knows and likes her. He sees his behaviour as weakness and diagnoses as a medical condition that could call for therapy.
Relationships and intimacy offer Holden a chance to break out of his shell. They also represent what Holden fears about the world. The unpredictableness of people’s actions are what causes Holden to become reclusive and fear intimacy. He encounters opportunities to be imitate but blunders them. When Holden says“she was very nervous for a prostitute”(chapter 13) , he sees her as a person not a sexual object which is problem when you're soliciting sex from a prostitute. He thinks about how other people would see her, how she views herself and how nervous she is. Meeting the prostitute Holden was looking for companionship to make him feel better but prostitutes aren’t looking for someone to talk to. The encounter between him and the prostitute was destined to fail. For Holden sex and emotion are incompatible.
Holden desperately tries to cling to innocence.

He enjoys the Museum of Natural History because “everything always stayed right where it was”(chapter 16 ) . The museum represents the world Holden wishes to live in . Where everything is simple and infinite. He is terrified by the unpredictable challenges in the world and interactions with other people. What Harold fails to realize is that trying to keeping everything the same and everyone innocent is a fools errand that only leads to madness.
Phoebe is honest with Holden and not “phony” , a characteristic that he despises in people. Although Phoebe is younger than Holden , at times she seems more mature than him . She differs from Holdens view of childhood innocence. When Holden tells Phoebe that he doesn't like anything she say “ you don’t like anything that's happening”(chapter 9) and goes on to force him to name something that he does like. Which is hard for Holden to do. She can see that his bitterness towards the world is a reflection upon

himself.
Another way Phoebe challenges Holden’s view on childhood innocence is when Phoebe is riding the carousel. As Holden is watching his sister and says “ if they fall off you have to let them fall off and not say anything” (chapter 26), he has come to the realization that Phoebe cannot stay 10 years old forever and that everyone will not remain innocent. Grabbing the ring symbolizes taking a chance at life and he has to allow Phoebe freedom to do that even if she might fail. This differs from Holdens previous desires to keep children from falling of the edge into adult world in that he is allowing Phoebe to grow into herself.
While Holden spends the entire time throughout the novel speaking about his disgust with phonies, he suffers from hypocrisy.

Holden has labeled the world as superficial while childhood is full of innocence and honesty. his distinct understanding of the adult world and the childhood world allows him to shield himself from the worlds disappointments. His armour of distrust is broken down during his experience with Mr. Antolini and shows how superficial his conceptions are.Mr. Antolini advice for education is unconventional as he says “someone will learns something from you...it isn’t educational its poetry”(chapter 24). He tells Holden to focus more on school because his voice needs to be heard. When Mr. Antolini puts his hand on Holden as a comforting gesture ,Holden mistakenly interprets it as sexual and upon further reflection regrets his quick judgments. When Holden admits his mistake , he is starting to question his practice of making judgements

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J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye captures the attention of readers through Holden Caulfield bitterness and criticism toward society. He feels so torn between adulthood and childhood that he alienates himself from the rest of the world that has conformed . Although holden is tempted to form relationships and engage in sex and drinking , he doesn’t want to engage in them as they are a gateway to adulthood. Holden wants to protect his innocence and the innocence of his love from a world , in Holden's eyes, that prey on the weak. While his mission to protect the innocence of himself and his loved ones might be hopeless, it is noble.