How Does Holden Alienate Himself

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger focus on a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield. He begins his story rapping up his career at Pencey prep; which he is flunking out of. You learn that he has been kicked out of many boarding schools for his lack of performance in his classes. Holden only acceled in one class while at school which is writing. Holden is writing his story a year later from a treatment facility in California which is likely to be a mental hospital or a sanatorium. Holden is complex often separating himself from his peers feeling no need to find a common ground with them because it would be a waste of his time. He alienates himself, fearing outside harm and being disappointed by all the phonies that he is surrounded

by. For Holden, it is believed that he is surrounded by phonies, that everyone acts a certain way on the outside, but on the inside they have ulterior motives.

Holden protects himself from all the phoniness by alienating himself from everyone. Although he desperately wants to connect with someone. He uses isolation as proof that he is better than everyone else thus not seeing it necessary to interact with them. Holden uses the fact that everyone is a phony to alienate himself to avoid interactions with others that overwhelm him.
To Holden phoniness is describe the superficiality, hypocrisy, pretension, and shallowness that he encounters in the world around him. Holden searches for phoniness in other, but he never directly observes his own phoniness. By deceiving almost every person he mets for little to no reason. He shows the ultimate act of phoniness creating alternate names for himself when he meets people. In chapter 8 he met Mrs. Marrow the mother of one of his classmates whom he was sitting next to on the bus to New York. He tells her his name is Rudolph Schmidt, then proceeds to tell her how great of a guy her son is although he is a jerk. He tells her he is leaving Prency to have an operation on a tumor in his brain. He attempts to explain he reasoning for lying to Mrs.

Marrow telling the reader he did not want to hurt her feeling by telling her the truth about her son. Many readers may view this as a kind act, but the context of the passage concludes that he perpetrated a needless prank on her. He did not want to be put in an awkward situation, so he escapes it through lying. Which is the ultimate act of phoniness. Holden claims that all adults are phonies, but he desperately wants to indulge himself in adult acts. By drinking, smoking, and attempting sexually interactions whenever he can. Holden explains that adults are inevitably phonies, and, what’s worse, they can’t see their own phoniness. Phoniness, for Holden, stands as an emblem of everything that’s wrong in the world around him and provides an excuse for him to withdraw into his cynical isolation. He believes that children are the only “real” people because they have yet been corrupted by the outside world. Holden believes he is the model for virtue in a world full of phonies, but that is not the case. Although he desperately wants to believe that the world his a simple place, and that the world is separated into two sections. One being innocence and morality and the other side is full with phonies. Throughout the book Holden is the perfect example of what it means to be a phony.
Completely convinced that everyone who surrounds him are phony. Holden alienates himself as a form of self protection. He tells Mr. Spencer he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong (8). He uses his isolation as proof that he is better than everyone else. Moots Holden’s alienation derives from his own pain. Which he never directly addresses in the book. He desperately needs a human companion, but the walls he built up wont let him. In chapter 17 his loneliness forces him to go on a date with Sally Hayes, but the emotional walls he has built up causes him to insult her and drive her away. Holden often times wants to get in touch with Jane Gallagher a old love interest. Early in the novel the reader predicts that Jane may end up have a relationship with Holden, but Holden is unable to build up the courage to ask her out. Holden’s alienation makes it impossible to build a relationship with the one person who he has longed to have a relationship with. He uses a red hunting hat as a barrier of protection or a safe haven of some sort. Confounding in the hat whenever he feels uncomfortable in a situation or just wants to get away into his own world. Sexuality help form alienation for Holden also. He claim that he is a heartless guy that doesn't want a true relationship. All he wants from girls is sex, but it is not proven in the book. Holden has a prostitute come to his hotel room wanting to have sex. When she gets there he realized that he cannot convince himself to just jump in and have sex with this girl, but he must establish a connection with her first. Ultimately he pays her and ask her to leave. The death of his brother Allie may be the cause for his alienation. Holden’s world ended when his brother died. He broke bones in his hand from punching things in the garage after he found out what happen. Allie died of Leukemia at a young age. Holden was unable to go to the funeral because he was in the hospital for his hand. This seems to bother Holden the most bring up the fact that he still has Allie’s baseball mitt in his dorm room. You can conclude that after his brother died that he went numb unable to form any connections. Shutting himself away from the outside world.
The Catcher in the Rye has a deep rooted interest with the emotional state of a boy who clearly needs help. Holden need someone real that he can relate to. he is tired of all the phonies in his life that is why he is unable to make any connection, thus alienating himself. In the end he tells the reading that he is going to another boarding school when he gets out of treatment. He says that he think he is going to apply himself. Leaving hope for him in the end, with an open ending allowing the reader to determine his fate. When all need something real in this world, but we cannot allow ourselves to become hypocrites in the process like Holden. Alienating yourself has no purpose, but to destroy any relationships for have with people. Which is a valuable lesson learned from The Catcher in the Rye.