The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield seems to think of himself as a saint. Holden sees the world as a evil, cruel place where everyone is out to get him. He calls almost everyone a phony (people whose outside behavior disguises their inner feelings) and is obsessed with phoniness. He, however, is not as perfect as he wants to be, and is the real phony because of the fact that he cannot stop himself from lying to people. He is a young man who is deeply troubled and uses sarcasm and manipulation to conceal his insecurities. Holden is so quick to patronize and label people as “fakes”, he doesn’t realize it is he who is the ultimate fake.

In Pency Prep School, Holden often discusses how he is surrounded by phonies. One obvious example is Holden’s roommate, Stradlater. Holden sees him as being phony and a sexy slob because of the fact that the razor that makes him look so good was "rusty as hell and full on lather and hair and crap." His obsession with phoniness gets him in trouble when Stradlater knocks Holden out after he accuses him of giving Jane Gallagher the time in the back of Ed Banks’ car. Holden’s avoidance of things phony is very strong, yet he lies to the mother of a schoolmate on the train ride to New York. Holden feels that the schoolmate is nothing great and still says that her son is a great kid.

When Holden reaches New York, he seems to be swarmed by phonies also. For example, Holden is annoyed when he is approached by Lillian Simmons, an old girlfriend of Holden’s brother, D.B. She runs up on Holden immediately asking about D.B., and then trying to SUCK UP TO Holden. “You could tell she was just trying to get in good with me. So that I could tell D.B. about it.” [87] And later on in the book when Holden meets up with Sally Hayes to see a show called “I Know My Love” featuring the Lunts. Her she makes her phoniness obvious with comments like “Old Sally didn’t talk much, except to rave about the Lunts, because she was busy rubbering and being charming” [127]. However, what makes Holden agitated is when Sally runs in to an old friend. “It was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life” [127]. When the two sit down and drink Coke at the skating rink, Holden yells at Sally about how he can’t stand the phony people in his life. On the other hand, earlier that day, Holden tells Sally he loves her and knows he doesn’t mean it.

Lastly, and most importantly, may be one of the most important hints to Holden’s madness and insecurity. As well as rejecting