Holden Caulfield Phony

Society finds it easier to hide behind lies than to proudly display the truth. In The Catcher in the Rye, through the eyes of the troubled teenager Holden Caulfield, J.D Salinger explores the shallowness behind the “phonies,” who pretend to be someone different with others, creating an image that protects them from the discomforts of shame and guilt. The phonies that Holden obsesses over reflect society’s need to create a false appearance to please and charm, a “mask” that disguises the phonies’ true feelings.
From Holden’s perspective, his world of prep schools and upper class New Yorkers is full of fakes who feign interest, pressured to act in a socially-acceptable way, pretending to be the best possible person they can think of despite

their true shortcomings. When Holden goes on a date with Sally Hayes, she spends most of the time outside of the theater, trying to know other people better by using the play: “Old Sally did not talk much, except to rave about the Lunts, because he was busy rubbering and being charming.” (127). Despite Sally’s insistence on the Lunts, it is clear that Sally does not care for the Lunts at all and simply uses them as a tool to connect herself with the people surrounding her. Instead of interacting with her date Holden, Sally attempts to gather social standing and appear as a person that she clearly is not. Her “charming” personality conceals her true identity as someone who couldn't care less about the play. To Holden, Sally represents phonies that try to steer themselves into society with an illusion of a perfect, sophisticated person who understands the deeper meanings of life. As Holden watches the play, he realizes that the actors are awful because they try to show off instead of delivering their lines with impactful meaning: “If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then you’re not as good any more" (126). Within Holden, the actors depict the shallow people that surround him, always wanting more reputation in society and exhibiting tendencies to behave extravagantly in an attempt to please others. They betray their original talent and follow a ruinous path towards further glory that leaves them just as unfulfilled as when they began to distort their abilities. Without any pride and integrity, people try to send an image of themselves that hides the true nature of their emotions and feelings, incapable of realising that they have as much potential without pretending to be a different person. If being themselves got people so far like these actors, their future is just as bright if they continue to act with authenticity and master what skill they have. To Holden, the veils that people wear to hide their feelings follow an act that represent the accepted norms of society, a shallowness that steals their true identity
Regardless of Holden's perspective on phonies, throughout the story, Holden illustrates his own shallowness and inability to present the truth to others, a murky gray that contrasts the black and white that Holden so desperately seeks.

After Holden leaves Pencey, he strikes a conversation with a mother of a Pencey student and pretends to be a friend of her son: “Then I really started chucking the old crap around. ‘Did he tell you the elections?’” (57). With his manipulative lies, Holden charms a mother in hopes to get drinks with her and pretends that her son is a humble boy who was unwilling to run for class elections regardless of his friend’s insistence. Despite what Holden says about phonies, his behavior with the naive mother is just as phony as the people he criticizes. With complete disregard to the truth, Holden throws away his ideals and beliefs that he believed set him apart from the “phonies”, unaware that he is potentially damaging a family with his lies. Taken by his sexual desires, Holden acts as a shallow man trying to seek cheap thrills, putting on a mask that replaces his genuine feelings of disgust towards exploitative fakes. By manipulating this woman, Holden reveals his standpoint on phonies is hypocritical and reflects that society’s pressure to be someone different affects him just as much as anyone else. At Ernie’s, Holden meets his brother’s old girlfriend Lillian and leaves because he lies to her that he had to meet someone else: “After I’d told her I had to meet somebody, I didn’t have any goddamn choice except to leave” (87). Despite not wanting to leave Holden leaves Ernie’s because of the fake face he wears in order to escape any unplesantries Lillian, avoiding her “phony” conversation that would lead back to his brother. Instead of telling Lillian that he does not want to talk to her, Holden awkwardly tells her a lie that shows how unwilling he is to tell someone the truth. His strong stance against phonies strongly differs from his

behavior in Ernie’s where he lets the pressure of conversation get to him and struggles to do what he really wants. Without considering the fact that his behavior is just as phony as anyone else's, Holden acts in a manner that spreads lies and deceit, hurting others in the progress
In J.D Salinger’s novel, the people, including Holden, are disingenuous and ruin the real beliefs that they hold so dear, unable to see that their flaws and truths are what make them human. Today, society follows the same patterns that Holden witnesses, acting in distasteful and false manners. With the use of social media, people disguise their lives with grandiose images of happiness and present themselves in way that hides their real lives.