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Catcher In The Rye Self-Justification

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Beyond the use of self-justification to justify discrimination against others, Parrillo suggests that self-justification is used to establish and maintain a feeling of superiority or dominance towards those perceived to be inferior. Although this is most prevalent between ethnic groups, Holden of Catcher in the Rye also utilizes self-justification to maintain distance from the rest of society, which he deems to be too “phony” for him. Holden dreams of having a rule such that, “If anybody tried to do anything phony, they couldn't stay” (Salinger 110). In doing so, Holden creates two social classes in his mind-- the phonies, and the non-phonies, the latter of which is only populated by children and himself. Therefore, he “may avoid social contact

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