Examples Of Phoniness In Catcher In The Rye

The ideas that we have on what makes something phony is very difficult to grasp and pinpoint exactly what makes something ooze phoniness or if it's just a reflection of ourselves that we dislike. I feel like the same can be said about Holden and his perceptions on the whole idea of phoniness for some aspects are very understandable but others are just very hypocritical. In Salinger's novel, the catcher in the rye, Holden finds people who don't constantly stay in character when they interact with certain people to be phony.

For Holden, the big reason I think that this aspect of phoniness is so vital to the representation of the book is his view on the world and how he chooses to instead of dealing with the issue, he'd rather run away from

He himself is a phony. To give some context, When Stradlater came back from his date with Jane, Holden started asking him with questions. He then ends up in a fight with him and decides to go to sleep in Ackley's room. He explains why he was so mad saying “The trouble was, I knew that guy Stradlater's technique. That made it even worse. We once double-dated, in Ed Banky's car, and Stradlater was in the back, with his date, and I was in the front with mine. What a technique that guy had. What he'd do was, he'd start snowing his date in this very quiet, sincere voice--like as if he wasn't only a very handsome guy but a nice, sincere guy, too. I damn near puked, listening to him. His date kept saying, "No--please. Please, don't.Please." But old Stradlater kept snowing her in this Abraham Lincoln, sincere voice, and finally, there'd be this terrific silence in the back of the car. It was really embarrassing. I don't think he gave that girl the time that night--but damn near. Damn near.” (7. 49). Holden doesn't like the fact that Stradlater makes girls do something that they don't want to do and this portrays what a phony he is for acting like such a sincere guy when his intentions were prevalent. Holden feels that Stradlater is a phony even though he doesn't straight out say it but he acts one way but does something opposite of that. But, Holden had

Holden had told his sister Phoebe that he had gotten the axe and she asked why he had done it. He answered with “It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life. For instance, if you were having a bull session in somebody's room, and somebody wanted to come in, nobody'd let them in if they were some dopey, pimply guy. Everybody was always locking their door when somebody wanted to come in. And they had this goddam secret fraternity that I was too yellow not to join. There was this one pimply, boring guy, Robert Ackley, that wanted to get in. He kept trying to join, and they wouldn't let him. Just because he was boring and pimply.” (22. 167) Holden is saying that everyone who is similar will always stick together and didn't let certain people join. I think what Holden hated was the fact that no one was willing to let someone in based off of how they looked vs that they were a certain way that just wasn't acceptable. Holden finds phoniness also plays into how you treat others that are different in a genuine