phony

526 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The catcher in the rye novel

"Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke everytime I hear it". Then all of a sudden old Spencer looked like he had something very good,something sharp as a tack, to say to me.He sat up more in his chair and sort of moved around." It was not real though, he simply took the Atlantic Monthly and tried to throw it on the bed next to me. He missed. " It was only about two inches away, but he missed anyway. I got up and picked it up and put it down on the bed. All of a sudden then, I wanted to get the hell out of the room. I could feel a terrific lecture coming on. I didn't mind the idea so much." Throughout "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield always points out the people that are phony. This usually means that the person isn't true to themselves or tends to lie a lot. He uses the word frequently to describe people and assumes that most people are phony. He uses it to describe people he has never even met before. The people that are interested in how they look or appear more than how they really are. The people that don't say a lot of honest...

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Ideology in Emerson's Self Reliance and Catcher in the Rye

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye portrays Holden as a character who views conformity as evil. Conformist is a word associated with people who dismiss their own ideas and opinions and act the way most others do. In doing so, they believe others will respect them more because they are more like the majority of the population, Holden saw all those who tried to conform to society as `phonies'. He stated, "At the end of the first act, we went out with all the other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear how sharp they were." (Salinger 126) Almost everyone in the novel acted as phonies according to Holde...

    Read More

  • The Long Walk Chapter 8 Essay

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Oh God,” Garraty gasped. “Oh Jesus Christ they’re killing me. I… I can’t…” He broke into loose, trickling laughter once more. His knees buckled. McVries ripped him to his feet once more. Garraty’s collar tore. They were both warned. That’s my last warning, Garraty thought dimly. I’m on my way to see that fabled farm. Sorry, Jan, I…

    Read More

  • Theme Of Self Deprecation In The Great Gatsby

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick Carraway is a special character in Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The fictional story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway who is deemed to be unbiased, impartial, and non-judgmental in his narratives. At the top layer, he appears to be a genuine and great friend, who seems to be the only true friend and admirer of Great Gatsby. As the story unfolds, readers get glimpses of internal issues that Nick Carraway has that show him as more of a flawed character than previous thought of. The first issue that readers see and challenge in the novel is Nick’s attempt at being an unbiased narrator.

    Read More

  • Comparing Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard – it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden…My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires…”

    Read More

  • Catcher in the Rye Essay: Holden and His Phony Family

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he classifies each family member.

    Read More

  • The Phony Theme of The Catcher In The Rye

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    In life there comes a time when everyone thinks that they are surrounded by phoniness. This often happens during the teen years when the person is trying to find a sense of direction. Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction in J.D. Salinger's, "The Catcher In The Rye." Holden has recently been expelled from Pency Prep for failing four out of his five classes. He decides to start his Christmas recess early and head out to New York. While in New York Holden faces new experiences, tough times and a world of "phony." Holden is surrounded by phoniness because that is the word he uses to identify everything in the world that he rejects.

    Read More

  • Holden's Perception of Others in Catcher in the Rye

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden's encounters with other people. He divides all people into two different categories, the "phonies" and the authentics. Holden refers to a "phony" as someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite, or has manifestations of conformity. A person's age, gender, and occupation, play a key role in how Holden interacts with them.

    Read More

  • Good vs. Evil in Macbeth

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    " Two truths are told.but what is not" (line 137-152, Pg 27-29). We see him arguing with himself and feeling disgusted that he even thought that. That was interesting because we get the feeling that something out of the ordinary is coming up and our anticipation gets into the story straightaway.

    Read More

  • Communication in The Catcher in the Rye

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is a worldwide known concept that communication among different people is a necessity of one's life if it is to be a happy one. Human companionship is something everyone will do anything for. Yet, some people have difficulties in communicating with others especially when they see problems among the people they try to communicate with. In this novel, "The Catcher in the Rye," the author, J.D. Salinger, illustrates the protagonist's difficulty in communicating with other people, especially with the women he encounters throughout the novel. The reader can see Holden Caulfield's failed attempts to communicate with people. In the conversations Holden has with people, he usually makes up lies or ends up embarassing them or himself. In others, he usually ends up being hostile towards them. Yet, it seems obvious that the reason for his failed attempts of communication is because he won't allow people to express themselves as they are. He automatically assumes that they are "phony" because of their first impression towards him. He won't give them a chance to express themselves unless he decides that their first impression towards them makes them "likeable".

    Read More

  • Gatsby’s Illusion of Greatness

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby, the central character, Jay Gatsby, is a paradox. In one sense, his rise to material success is a remarkable accomplishment. Viewed through another lense, however, he is not great at all, but a massive failure. His goal of winning Daisy is never attained and he has amassed his fortune through very questionable means. Yet the term “great” is open for interpretation. Gatsby is certainly great in his ability to conjure up stories and an image of himself. His masterful ability to present himself to the world in a new light is similar to that of the one and only Great Houdini, and other performers of the past and present. But Gatsby’s greatness, like a stage performance, is only surface deep, and hides a deeper sense of failure.

    Read More

  • Growing Up in The Catcher in the Rye

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many of the times that Holden criticizes people, it is something he does himself. (Pg 13) “. one of the reasons I left Elkton was that I was surrounded by phonies.” Holden himself is many times what he refers to as a “phony”. He knows that he lies and pretends to like people that he would rather not be with.

    Read More

  • 5 Paragragh Essay: The Catcher In The Rye

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word “phony” to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who are“phony”, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden’s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character’s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character.

    Read More

  • Holden's Lonliness Catcher In the Rye

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    To Holden, everyone is either corny of phony. He uses these terms to describe what a person is if they do not act naturally and follow other people?s manners and grace. Holden dislikes phonies and thinks of them as people who try to be something they are not. He loathes people who showed off because it seems unnatural every time they do not act like themselves. Holden does not allow himself to have friendship because of his dull attitude. In the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Holden is lonely when he separates himself from the rest of the Pencey students by watching the football game from Thomsen Hill and not the grand stands. Holden is not a very sociable person partly because he finds himself better than many others. He dislikes his roommate because of his generic leather luggage. His next door roommate Ackley does not seem to want a friendship with him either. Holden finds Ackely?s zit crusted face ridiculous and doesn?t want him in his room at first. This shows the reader that Holden is a lonely person because he chooses to be lonely and does not want anything to do with people who do not fit into his perception of normal.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Rejection In Catcher In The Rye

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Holden uses very specific vocabulary words, and this couldn't be more apparent than his personal favorite word to use, phony. From the beginning to the end of the book, Holdens calls something (or someone phony) no less than 33 times. But why? The answer is that Holden uses this word, along with moron, stupid, or Ivy league whenever he feels alone, rejected by society, or rejected by someone

    Read More

  • Holden Caulfield

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    When walking around in a random city, people often judge strangers without necessarily getting to know them very well. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield marks many people as phonies without getting to completely know them. During his trip through New York City, Holden Caulfield meets many people, and most of the people he judges right away. Holden Caulfield shows that he is very judgmental even if he does not know the person, by noticing only kids as innocent, marking most adults as phonies and trying to save kids from growing old and becoming corrupt.

    Read More

More about phony

Open Document