Examples Of Irony In Catcher In The Rye

Everyone expects to take the easy path through life. However, there are always unexpected ups and downs in life because eventually everyone will run into an unanticipated obstacles. These obstacles have a reason behind them, and the reason is to introduce challenges into the easy path to life. In other words, irony comes in unexpected situations. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield narrates his story with the start of him leaving Pencey Prep., a school in which Holden is being expelled from, and leaves the school early to head back home with his family. Instead of directly going to his house, he decides to stay in a hotel and yet he faces obstacles to fulfill his time during his stay before he visits his family.

Holden uses the word “phony” on people, yet he mentions himself being “the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (14). In other words, there is a juxtaposition between the word phony and Holden being a liar. Therefore, his lies lead to his built-up characteristics, which show the lack of trust in his point of view. For example, when he talks about his fencing team, he says, “I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn’t all my fault...The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train” (3). Not only is he being isolated from a group of potential friends, but also he is building the expectation of him being the real phony. Also, when he was in the age of thirteen, his parents “were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, because [he] broke all the windows in the garage. [He does not] blame them…[he] slept in the garage the night [Allie, his younger brother] died, and [he] broke all the goddam windows with [his] fist, just for the hell of it” (34). His melodramatic action has demonstrated his internal conflict. Not only breaking windows seems to be inappropriate but also how his perspective of who is phony is inaccurate due to the fact of him not recognizing himself as the phony character. As a result, his idea of phony people falls on himself even though his mentions the word “phony” about other

Allie is a special person to Holden because of his intelligence and kindness, When Holden accepted the favor of writing Stradlater’s composition, Holden has also accepted an obstacle in his time during his stay in Pencey Prep. The topic of the composition is to describe a room or a house; however, describing something meaningful only leads to the thoughts of Allie because he “couldn’t think of a room or a house or anything to describe the way Stradlater said he had to have.” (33). Furthermore, Holden is so passionate about Allie that he has provided background story of Allie’s baseball mitt, the poems written in green ink, his intelligence, his kindness, and his red hair. However, Stradlater “was really furious” and mentions Holden “flunking the hell out of here,” (36) because the composition is supposed to be related to the descriptions of a room or a house, but in response, Holden “pulled [the composition] right out of [Stradlater’s] goddam hand. Then [Holden] tore it up.” (36). The composition represents his emotions and care for Allie, but it is now gone, and now Holden has to decompose the fact of his hard work turned into a naught. As a result, Holden decides to annoy Stradlater by smoking and since he has torn the composition, smoking can a way for Holden to handle his internal conflict. Furthermore, Holden has demonstrated his appreciation