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Essay Outline For The Catcher In The Rye

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Outline: introduction Attention Grabber: Imagine living a lie and acting as if it were real. Imagine believing everyone is a phony when you are the biggest one. Step into the shoes of Holden Caulfield if you wish to continue. Background Information: J.D Salinger’s “ Catcher In The Rye” tells the tragic story of a teenager’s battle to fit in. Holden a pretty privileged young man at home and at pencey prep seems to have the ideal life. He is trying to find meaning in his life but the “phoniness” around him keeps him depressed. Due to the death of his little brother and his past experiences he is able to see more flaws in society compared to the average teenager. He never seems to accept that everyone has flaws including him. If poor Holden isn’t able to …show more content…

He calls others phonies in order to distance himself from other people’s “phoniness”. Detail #1: Before Holden says he wants to be “The Catcher in the Rye” he claims that all adults are inevitably phonies. Explanation: We already know that Holden expresses himself by calling everyone a phony, it makes him feel good about himself. He called all adults inevitably phonies; what he means by this is that adults are already phonies and can’t or will not change. This stereotypical idea of Holden’s is not based on fact but rather perception due to his past experiences with adults. Detail #2: “ Shake their hands and give them a phony smile then go talk.” (2.60) Explanation: Holden is being pretty much fake right now. He is saying that He should give the adults a fake phony smile and shake hands with them. Then start a conversation with them. These conversations especially with adults lead to Holden’s classic fake stories that are made up on the spot. Another demonstration of phoniness because of Holden’s insecurities and “phoniness”. Body Paragraph

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Preposterous lying is a trait that Holden shows forth throughout the novel. In chapter 3 he warned the readers that he loves to lie and he does a good job at doing it (22). Holden would tell lies over and over again just to protect himself from any hurt or rejection. Another flip side to why Holden lies is because he tends to get bored with certain conversations he has with his peers so lying helps him to check out of reality for a while and in doing this, he tries to impress people and let them feel sorry for him. This makes him feel extremely superior.

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1.In the previous past chapters and Holden acts more like child than an adult. Holden seems to call adults phonies and doesn’t really call children phonies. It 's immaterial to me," she said. "Hey—how old are you, anyhow?"That annoyed me, for some reason. "

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His old teacher is agonizing him about his failures at Pencey. He lectures Holden about how important it is to “play by the rules” meaning that if you want to get somewhere and be someone in life you have to be able to compromise and not think that you are better than anyone else. This conversation implies key aspects of him as a character. His contempt for adults is obvious, which is

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878 Words | 4 Pages

He, too, is often at a disadvantage and uses his own wits and control of language to survive in various circumstances. In some ways he follows the principles of an “underdog” with his somewhat depressing current status. The readers are usually “rooting” for Holden due to the given background knowledge of this kid. They are concerned for him and want him to succeed no matter what he does. On the other hand, Holden approaches his representation of a trickster in a more subtle and innocent manner.

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In The Cather in the Rye Holden is indeed a hypocrite. Throughout the story Holden does many things that would define him as a hypocrite. He is immature and rebellious and wants people to treat him like an adult even though he isn’t one. Holden’s actions often contradict his words, which would make him a hypocrite. For example, in chapter four Holden complains about his next-door neighbor Ackley spending all his time in Holden’s room.

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1. Holden Caulfield is a seventeen-year-old boy from a wealthy family, who doesn’t care about many things and enjoys lying to other people. Holden makes a point throughout the first half of the book to show how skilled he is at lying to other people; however, he also hates when other people are phony. Therefore, Holden is a hypocrite, he holds other people to higher standards and considers them phonies, when Holden in fact is a phony considering his tendency to be dishonest and spin tales about himself. Even Holden doesn’t always seem to enjoy or be in control of his lying, for example, he states “Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket.

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845 Words | 4 Pages

She probably knew what a phony slob he was" (2). He doesn't like people lying for other people, he expects everyone to realize when someone is being phony and call them out on it. Another reason Holden hates phony people is because he believes that you shouldn't be doing things just to look good but you should be doing them with a purpose. This is true, you should live with a purpose, and not just live to achieve personal gain Holden likes to strike out at these people calling them names that aren't nice to say the least. Lastly Holden believes that you become phony when you grow up, when the world corrupts you and you become conforming to everything around you.

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In conclusion, Holden is a phony because because he pretends to be someone that he is not, he contradicts himself, and he blames others for things that he is responsible for. Holden, making such a big deal about phonies ended up being one. This shows that no matter what you do, the society will always play a big role in influencing one’s behavior and the way that one

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894 Words | 4 Pages

The novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, delves into the theme of alienation as a form of self-protection, through three main motifs which are embodied by the protagonist, Holden Caufield. Holden is a teenager struggling with finding “real” relationships, resulting in him continuously retreating into loneliness and frequently lying to most people he encounters daily. These actions carried out by Holden reflect the three main motifs of the story which are loneliness, relationships, and lying/deception. The nature of Holden’s actions within the novel displays his enigma of emotions, as he wants to speak to others and create relationships with them, but also says they are “phony” which pushes him back into his shell of isolation.

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The effects of Holden constantly isolating himself can be seen especially through his improper speech and how he speaks to others. For example in chapter two Holden says “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies (pg 14).” In this Holden is exhibiting his poor vocabulary and shows how he does not put thought into the things he says. When he uses the word phonies to describe the boys at Elkton Hills in reality he means he thinks they are boys whom he is not friends with and does not like. In many other cases Holden appears to immediately result to the word phony when describing something or someone he does not like.

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Shouldn’t someone who acts tough and often brags know that they will never become a phony? The answer would be yes if Holden wasn’t so insecure. Holden’s childish ways cause him to never mature and figure out who he is as a person. We see many signs of Holden insecurities throughout the book, like the fact that he contradicts himself. An example of this would be when Sally and Holden are in the taxi and he tells her he loves her, he then counties to say, “It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it” (Salinger 139).

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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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1002 Words | 5 Pages

Holden describes phonies all throughout the book, he keeps calling out people for being fake. " The waiter was waiting for her to move out of the way, but she didn 't even notice him. It was funny. You could tell the waiter didn 't like her much you could tell even the Navy guy didn 't like her much even though he was dating her. And I didn 't like her much.

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Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

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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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