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Catcher In The Rye Phony Quotes

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Justin Wong English 2A, Ms. Mitchell Block 7 17 April 2017 Holden Caulfield's Judgmental Qualities JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, characterizes Holden’s tendency to accuse people of acting fake in order to stay within the social norms. Holden feels he is surrounded by phonies, who he judges as hypocritical, shallow, superficial, and inauthentic. He experiences phoniness mainly in the adult world and believe adults such as lawyers and actors are taking on a new identity other than themselves. The transition into the adult world is what Holden fears the most in his life. He is not willing to accept change and wants to stay as a young adolescent. Holden's alienation is also due to the fact that he is preoccupied with wanting to be …show more content…

He is always seeking human contact and love, but has a hard time forming intimate relationships with new people. His alienation is mainly due to Holden critiquing people for being phony and not being unique and different. Because Holden is pushing people away from him such as Sally Hayes's, Ward Stradlater, and Jane Gallagher, it provides him a deeper loneliness. For instance, on his date with Sally Hayes, his loneliness makes him insult her by saying “You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth” (133). As the story advances, Holden's isolation is a way for him to protect himself and to single himself out of the phony world. For example, Holden's red hunting hat is a symbol of his isolation; the hunting hat is his way of expressing his uniqueness and individuality. “The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back-very corny, I’ll admit, but i liked it that way. I looked good in it that way” (18). Holden's interactions with other people overwhelm and confuse him, and his superior feeling serves as his own protection. His alienation leads him to be conflicted between seeking companionship or to stay isolated from his close …show more content…

Holden does not want to associate with people who are phony because they have been exposed to the adult world where they grow up and become liars and adolescents. Unlike his younger brother, Allie, Allie never got the chance to experience the adult world, or lost his innocence. Holden does not think kids are phony, and he actually likes children because they are pure and have not reached the adult world. At various points in the book, Holden mentions how Allie never grew up and how “All the visitors could get in their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner-everybody except Allie” (156). The thought of Allie dead bothers Holden because Allie never gets the chance to live a life while everyone keeps growing, living, and experiencing new things. Not only has Allie’s death prevent Holden from forming friendships, but he also is preoccupied with wanting to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says, “I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it's crazy” (173). All Holden wants to do is save people who are special and innocent just like his younger brother Allie. Even though Allie died, Holden thinks Allie is always watching over him and making him feel better. For example, after Holden spent the night sleeping on a bench at Grand Central Station, he starts

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Blaise Engle English 9 CP Period 6 Mrs. Gowanlock Tuesday, December 21 CITR Essay Throughout the majority of the Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger employs several different symbols that define Holden's personality. One particular object that set him apart from everyone else was his red hunting hat. It is brought up on several different occasions in the book and is often described as an article that reminds him of his brother Allie and sister Phoebe. Salinger furthermore develops the red hunting hat into a symbol by referring to it several times as Holden's own form of uniqueness, aiding in the theme of “ protection of the innocence” and the resistance of maturity.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

Towards the end of the story, while having a conversation with Phoebe about what Holden wants to do with his life, he tells her, “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (Salinger 173). With this, Holden further reveals his childhood fantasy of being a hero and saving everyone. In his soul, Holden is an innocent boy who does not want to grow up.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

The loss of his older brother and the absent parents have really affected Holden’s behavior. He lives a life without any care but with exception of younger children. Holden has a fascination with younger children and their innocence possibly because he wasn’t able to enjoy his adolescent years and nor did his brother. Holden mentions “‘Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

The book “The catcher in the rye “ by J.D Salinger shows a teenagers journey through horrible days of misfortune. The main character, Holden, have interesting ways of dealing with his problems. It is anything from loneliness to his way of alienating for self protection. J.D Sallinger has chosen a special way of illustrating Holden’s life in forms of an iceberg, the inside of him is much larger than you think. Holden knows about how people feel about him but does not want to realise it and therefore uses a special technique to protect himself.

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223 Words | 1 Pages

J.D. Salinger uses varying diction and syntax in “The Catcher in the Rye” to create mood and tone throughout the novel. The specific choice of words (diction) that the author uses contributes to the characterization of Holden Caulfield. The use of profane and jargon-like word choice encapsulates the voice of the teenage narrator Holden. Holden’s informal diction emphasizes his immaturity and allows the reader to learn more about Holden’s character. Holden often uses the word “and” in a repetitive manner which gives the reader a child-like impression of Holden.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

When Allie died Holden was thirteen years old. “I’m seventeen now sixteen then and I still sometimes act like I’m thirteen” Holden fears that if he grew up that he would forget Allie and become a phony adult. In is grief Holden wants to become the catcher in the rye to keep kids from falling from grace and innocence so he too doesn't have to grow up. “I’ll catch them as they fall off the cliff.” Holden’s immaturity is a sign of his grief for Allie.

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656 Words | 3 Pages

This is a symbol of the fact that innocence can’t forever be protected. Holden is very upset over the fact that innocence is being taken away in a

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Unhappiness in One’s Life Can Lead to Finding Phoniness in Everything Else; The Catcher in the Rye There used to be a tall, mean bully in Pre-K that I went to school with. Everyone was scared of her because she was bigger than everyone else and she always made fun of her classmates. She would make mean comments about the clothes we would wear and the things we would do. One day, she made fun of my pink velcro shoes and claimed that they were for babies.

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When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to be when he is older, he says, “Thousands of little kids... What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and don’t look where they’re going…I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (173) Holden states that he wants to stand in the rye, and catch kids all day if they happen to run over the cliff. Keeping children sae is very important to him because he does not want to experience the death of a young child again, since it will bring back the sadness of Allie dying. Furthermore, the two people closest to Holden are both children, Phoebe and the late Allie.

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This describes Holden to-a-t, because of his alienation problem, his conflict with “phoniness” and his struggle of growing up and leaving his small problems behind him. Throughout the novel,

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779 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.

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Sobrado, 1 Alexandra Sobrado 1B August 30, 2016 Who Runs the World...? Phoniness Holden Caulfield has a unique way of thinking, when he sees people he instantly begins to think they are phony. Throughout the whole book Holden calls everybody a phony, he thinks that everybody is fake. One example is Ackley. He begins to tell everybody about his summer and how he almost hooked up with a girl.

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Hypocrites conceal their true identity to judge others based on their own ideals, yet neglect to follow the same values themselves. The book The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, is a coming of age story featuring a character named Holden Caulfield. Holden has recently been expelled from his school, Pencey Prep, when the story begins and follows him on his procrastinated journey home. Holden believes that everyone should abide by his standard of be who they really are, and anyone who is slightly dishonest or genuine is a “phony”. Throughout the novel he constantly judges other people and the world from his perspective of how everything should be, yet he fails to realise his own flaws.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

He has trouble growing up and accepting life as it is. Holden thinks adults are "phony" which makes him hate the fact of growing up and staying innocent as much as he can while he is old enough to become an adult. He is frustrated with the world and people which makes him act with anger. His innocent childish dream is to be the Catcher in the Rye, to catch the kids before they become phonies like Holden says about adults. The moment he realizes that he cannot keep kids from falling or in other words, from growing up and becoming adults, he, reaches adulthood, and takes a big step towards it at the end of the novel.

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

Holden’s rebellious nature is a result of his desperate attempt to stay out of a phony adult society, but it ends up being a crucial factor in his coming of age process. Wearing his red hunting hat Holden attempts to stand out in the adult world, but it is also crucial being protecting him when he is vulnerable. Holden purchased the hat in New York “just after [he] noticed [he] lost all the goddam foils” (24), which shows that he was feeling vulnerable at the time. When he saw the “red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks” through “the window of [a] sports store” (24), he viewed it as a buffer from the outside world.

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