Examples Of Phony In Catcher In The Rye

In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is known for calling most adults “phony.” He struggles with the idea of change and adolescence; and in order to for him to stay a child, he devises a world where he must protect the children’s innocence by shielding them away from the hypocrisy and phoniness of adults. He fervently believes that children are the only genuine people in the world. While Holden visits the Museum of Natural History, he immediately feels a compelling connection. He starts to remember his childhood and his happiness when he was young. The museum depicts Holden as a person, as it represents his fleeting happiness, his hate for change, and his pure innocence.
When Holden was in New York, he realizes the imperfections and corruption of the world. He sees sexual desires, drinking, and profanity all throughout the city and tries to prevent children from being exposed and damaging their purity. While Holden was visiting the Egyptian section of the museum and becomes the only one left

He thought that the best thing about the whole museum is that “Nobody’d move[...]Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you” (135). Holden hates change and wants his life always to be the same. He does not want himself to grow up and become an adult. He wants his life to be like the artifacts, never changing and conserved, but instead, every time he visits the museum, he would be “different” (135). Not only does Holden want his life to be the same, but he wants Phoebe’s life also to be consistent. As Holden was walking, he thought about “how she’d see the same stuff [he] used to see, and how she’d be different every time she saw it” (136). Holden believes that growing up would just change his and Phoebe’s life for the worst. He wants everything to be the way it is