Holden Caulfield Satire

The Catcher in the Rye is often times recognised as a classic novel in the English language, however, the main themes and social messages of the book have always been disputed amongst critics. However, one theme throughout the novel tends to stand out more than the others: J.D. Salinger’s protest of our phony and fake world, and his message that fake personas are incredibly irrational, impractical, and just plain hypocritical.

We come across a few excellent examples of Salinger’s distaste for the irrational and phony world a little more than halfway through the book. Holden Caulfield is reminiscing on a movie he once saw, and gives a detailed (but also irrelevant) description of the plot. However, he seems to fixate on the woman sitting next

to him; she was weeping at the emotional events on screen, but ignoring her child’s whining and need to use the restroom. He deduces that she is “as kindhearted as a wolf”, and is acting phony (Salinger 75). Salinger is once again using Holden’s character as an outlet for his own thoughts, developing them through the use of situational irony. One would expect the crying woman to have a deep consideration for human needs, especially for that of her own child, but she instead decides to tend to her own wants instead of her child’s needs. In this situation, Salinger’s opinion is quite frank. His direct criticism of the woman’s “phony” nature shows his protest to the very idea of the fake and deceitful world that we live in. Yet another example of this is shown in the interactions between him and Sally. On his date with Sally, he gets a sudden urge to elope with her, but even he can somewhat realize the errors in his logic. Sally obviously replies that his ideas are fantastic and unrealistic- he then says he hates her because she refuses to go along with his plans (Salinger 71). Whilst he is insisting that he wants to marry her, he later states that he is lying when he says he loves her and is “beginning to hate her”. He is putting on the very fake attitude that he despises, which is situational irony. The reader can obviously acknowledge that Holden’s fake persona is irrational, and Salinger knows this; He is trying to portray how irrational fake personas can be, thus supporting his idea that being phony is something to despise. Susan K. Mitchell explains this concept in her literary criticism: “Is he not, like the Cretan who declared that all Cretans were liars, a person declaring that all people are phony? If everyone is phony, then he is phony, too… This unambiguous rhetorical statement is restated in an even more paradoxical way when Holden tells Sally that he loves her and then comments to the reader, "It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it."(Mitchell)”. She is criticizing Holden’s hypocrisy, irrationality, and ironic nature when it comes to dealing with the phony world. She, as a reader, recognized the irrationality of Holden’s actions, and got the exact message J.D. Salinger wanted the readers to understand- that acting deceitful and portraying yourself as something you are not is illogical, and how he despises it.
Although J.D.

Salinger utilizes the rhetorical element of irony throughout the majority of the book, his usage of symbolism is scattered, but very apparent. Throughout Holden’s many rants about fake personas, we can see one object he seems to fixate on- his old boarding school, Pencey Prep. He continuously speaks about how the school is practically lying through its advertisements. Even the school’s slogan, "since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men", is considered a piece of fiction to the protagonist. He stresses that the school didn’t mold their students more than any other school (Salinger 1). To Holden, Pencey Prep symbolizes everything he despises: the fake, the deceitful and the phony. J.D. Salinger is once again expressing himself through Holden, showing his own contempt for fake persons and the phony nature of humans. As the chapter progresses, the reader starts to understand Holden’s lifestyle- his life at home, his perception of school, and most importantly, about his family. He describes his brother as an incredibly rich screenwriter, but instead of flat-out telling the reader, he proceeds to call his brother a “prostitute” (Salinger 1). Holden is meaning that his brother is a sellout and is completing his work for money instead of fulfillment; he represents, in Holden’s eyes, acceptance of society’s norms and the phoniness of society. His disappointment in his brother’s insincerity shows the message of how we should be

dissatisfied with the phoniness of human nature, like Holden is with his brother. Even literary critic Susan K. Mitchell has spoken about Salinger’s use of symbolism in D.B: “According to Holden, D. B. represents wholehearted acceptance of society's norms. In Holden's caustic terms, D. B. is a "prostitute" who lives in Hollywood, where he makes buckets of money producing popular movies, such as the Annapolis love story… But now as D. B. apparently bows to society's pressure and to his desire to pursue the American Dream, he loses the meaning in his life and therefore cannot communicate the message he once had… (Mitchell)”. Mitchell is claiming that D.B. is shown as letting himself be dragooned into the norms of our society, and Holden sees him as another representation of the phoniness he despises. Holden’s views on the fake and deceitful world protest all human’s natural facade, and reflect Salinger’s protest as well.
Salinger’s final protest of the fake nature of our world can be seen on almost every page: his cynical, judgemental and pessimistic tone.

Holden always addresses problems in an incredibly pessimistic way, and often times groups all people together in hasty generalizations. For instance, whenever he is travelling to New York and converses with Ernest Morrow’s mother. He blatantly lies to the woman, giving her a fake name and fake descriptions of her son. He also calls her son “as sensitive as a toilet seat” and continues to criticize her and her son throughout the encounter (Salinger 30). This portrays the cynical and pessimistic tone of the book, as he is criticizing someone when he barely knows them, and telling a gigantic falsehood about something incredibly trivial. Any reader can acknowledge that lying about something, or otherwise putting on a fake persona, is incredibly illogical, especially in this situation. This is J.D. Salinger once again trying to get the audience to think about the irrationality and impracticality of human’s fake natures, and expresses his central message of a contempt for facades and our everyday deceit. However, Holden Caulfield’s pessimism and negativity doesn’t stop there. He shows a great deal of judgement against people over even the smallest of things, like their toothbrushes or the hairs within their razors. He shows especially harsh judgement on his schoolmate Bob Ackley. He describes him as having mossy teeth, a pimply face, and a

terrible personality, even though he has never seemed to have had any deep conversations with the man (Salinger 11). He judges him immediately on his personality by only seeing his outward hygiene, and frankly, Ackley can’t exactly help if he has pimples. And yet, though all of his internal judgements, Holden continues to act somewhat friendly to his classmate. Holden is once again putting on a fake exterior, the very one he hates. J.D. Salinger is purposefully writing the Catcher in the Rye and Holden Caulfield himself in a judgemental tone, so he can better show the phoniness of Holden’s actions. This is him trying to express to the readers that fake personas (like Holden’s constant one) should not be worn, and to show his deep desire for a change in our fake nature.
J.D. Salinger makes his frustrations with fake human nature obvious throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye, and expresses it as one of his main themes. Through the rhetorical elements of Irony, Symbolism, and Tone, he develops his message that fake personas are completely irrational and calls for change. Hopefully, through our current actions, we can carry on his wishes of being a more genuine and less- in Holden’s words- phony world.