To What Extent Is Holden Fake In Catcher In The Rye

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Recommended: Holden’s perception of himself differs from others’ perception of him

Do ever look at someone and all you see is them being fake? Most people are, but in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield is the main character who believes he’s not being fake. In this book, Holden refers to many people as being phony. This means that they are acting like someone they are not in order to fit in. There have been situations as to where Holden is being phony, like where he is showing off and pretends to say things in order to fit in. Although, Holden would argue that he is being himself and not a phony. Holden talks about how he hates when people show off, or brag about how much money they have to make themselves feel better about themselves. But, on page 60 when Holden was in a taxi he tells the driver, “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me. I’m loaded.” This shows that Holden is showing off to the taxi driver about how he’s loaded. This proves that Holden shows off just like some of the phony people he has met. …show more content…

On page 60 Holden is in a taxi and starts up a conversation with the taxi driver and Holden says that he’s traveling incognito and he proceeds to think in his head that, “I hate saying corny things like “traveling incognito.” But when I’m with somebody that’s corny, I act corny too.” Since the taxi driver was being corny Holden felt like he should be as well even though he wouldn’t usually say things like “traveling incognito”. Seeing as Holden only made this comment to fit in the conversation with the driver can be seen as him not being

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