Holden Caulfield Phony

In the story, The Catcher In the Rye, we look at the world through the eyes of a cynical teenager, Holden caulfield, and are presented with an array of situations experienced by people in that generation. It also faces a problem many young people battle with in their daily lives, depression. The main aspects of the story are the juxtaposed themes of innocence and maturity, self ascertained by Holden, which are used to symbolize sincerity and phoniness respectively. We also go over the fact about how past experiences mold a person. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s behaviour, experiences and relationships with the people surrounding him play a significant role in impacting him to become the person he is portrayed

to be.
The story, being in retrospect from Holden’s perspective, offers a great analysis of Holden’s thought processes.

In the beginning, he tells us about his brother, D. B. That he once thought very highly of. Holden feels as if he had been betrayed by him as he joined Hollywood, and became a scriptwriter for the movies, something Holden despises and regards as “phony”. This tells us how significantly Holden is averse phoniness. The fact that his brother D.B. became a phony later on in Holden’s memory proves that Holden holds growing up akin to becoming a phony. His aversion to change is also proved when he states, “ Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” Holden sees everybody around him, except children as having an air of phoniness. This is proved as the only people he truly appreciates are his little siblings, several children he encountered at a park, and a couple of nuns. Nuns are known to be truthful and honest, thus proving the fact that Holden appreciates

innocence.
A common problem Holden encounters is relating to people and the world around him. The fact that he is so cynical and views almost everything negatively, contributes to him having problems interpreting reality. An example of this would be when Holden invites Sally to live with him in Massachusetts and Vermont, and gets brutally rejected when Sally gives him a dose of reality by saying, “In the first place, we're both practically children. And did you ever stop to think what you'd do if you didn't get a job when your money ran out? We'd starve to death.” Holden also suffers with depression. He has frequent episodes in which he wishes to die. He also knows what makes him triggered but the fact that he has problems interpreting reality make him unable to avoid these situations. This is proved when he goes to watch a show with Sally, despite knowing the fact that he absolutely despised such shows. The fact that Holden has problems relating to everybody except people he holds close is also proved when he writes about his dead little brother Allie’s baseball mitt for a friend’s descriptive essay.
Holden was extremely close with Allie before he died.

He still has problems getting over that fact that Allie is dead, as is proved when it is revealed that he asks Allie to not let him “disappear” while crossing a street. The fact that Holden is so against the fact that his younger brother is dead leads Holden to become the cynical person he is. His cynicism is proved when Holden meets his classmate’s mother on a train and contemptuously lies to her, telling her that her son was very popular instead of the fact that he was a “rat”, when she asks him about her son. Holden is close with his younger sister, Phoebe, and they both appreciate each other’s company. This is shown as Holden often thinks about her in the story. Caulfield’s relationships with other people are impeded by his cynicism which ironically causes him to become a phony

himself.
Holden Caulfield’s several specific experiences, such as his brother’s death, his expulsion from four different schools and D.B going to join Hollywood cause him to view everything in a negative light and regard maturity as phoniness. They also impede his relationships with many people such as Sally Hayes and his teachers, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini.