Examples Of Phony In Catcher In The Rye

The narrative The Catcher In The Rye, by: J. D. Salinger; illustrates the unique but hypocritical thoughts of Holden Caulfield. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden uses the word phony on multiple and various occasions. Although he sees most of the characters in the novel as phonies, he is a phony himself because he lies and pretends he is someone he is not throughout the story. From the scenes with the Mrs. Morrow to the scene with Sunny, Holden lies about who he is to multiple people. The rare and uncommon but fraudulent thoughts and actions of Holden Caulfield, offset his idea of characters being phony.

At the beginning of the narrative Holden begins to talk about his older brother D.B, and how he is a sell out because he sold his book to hollywood. Holden emphasizes,“Now he's out in Hollywood, D.b. is being a prostitute. If there is anything I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.” Holden ostracizes his brother for being a “sell out”, but he is acting and putting on a different persona throughout the novel. Other than being a hypocrite Holden is also biased, because the only characters Holden does not call phonies are children, particularly his little brother and sister. Holden's judgments are often jumped to and unfair, and if Holden saw himself he

Holden was not ready for sex and tries to slip out of it. He tells himself that, “Once I get started I can go for hours”, he even gives sunny the impression that he is some guy named “Jim Steele.” Holden told sunny that he just had surgery on his clavichord because he was not ready for sex. “The thing is I had an operation very recently. Well actually, it's in the spinal canal. I mean it's quite a ways down from the spinal canal.” In a way Holden is a hypocrite for doing so because he is trying to stay a child, but he lies about his age, try's to have sex, and drinks at a