Is Holden just as phony as the people he criticizes?
Holden Caulfield, the narrator in The Catcher
in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, is just as phony as the
people he criticizes. In the novel, Holden is a sixteen-year-old
junior that has just been expelled from Pencey Prep for
academic failure. He shows a very jaded and cynical side,
and he finds the ugliness, hypocrisy, and "phoniness" of
the world almost unbearable. He discovers the things that
he doesn't like about the people around him, and speaks ill
of them to somehow isolate and protect himself from the world.
The narrator likes to believe that he is a "paragon
of virtue in a world of phoniness", but that is far from the
truth. Holden lies to and deceives most of the people he encounters
throughout the novel. He especially seems to enjoy deceiving
and misleading the people who think they are something they aren't
or believe that they are better than others, the people whom
Holden considers "phony". He lies to take attention away from his
own shortcomings and refuses to understand how his behavior
affects those around him.
Holden shows that he is just as phony as the people
around him by the lies that he tells and the people that he
deceives. His own "phoniness" can be considered as callousness,
insensitive, and even cruel. Through all this, Holden proves the
he is just as phony as the people he criticizes.
Does Holden believe that older people are less attractive and
trustworthy than younger people?
Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield
explains that childhood is full of innocence and honesty while
adulthood is just a world of superficiality and hypocrisy, or
"phoniness" because he refuses to acknowledge that growing up
scares him. He wants everything to be easy to understand and solid,
like the Eskimos and Indians in the museum he visits. Holden
doesn't want to grow into an adult on account that he wants to
stay in his pure childhood and not worry about the "phony"
complexity of adulthood.
In the same light, Holden believes that older people
are less attractive and trustworthy than younger people. He
understands that older people contribute to the "phoniness"
of the world, which he abhors. He implies that these people don't
understand how superficial they are, and this is what makes them
less attractive. Holden also feels that these people lie, cheat,
and deceive as a way to live their lives in comfort and luxury,
which makes them less trustworthy than younger people.
Holden implies that younger people don't understand the
politics of the world and don't need to make themselves look or
sound better than they really are. He believes that youth is pure,
innocent, and honest. These qualities make younger people seem
more attractive and trustworthy than older people.
(
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