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Holden Lying And Deception

605 Words3 Pages

Questions:
Why is it that Holden is more tolerant and accepting of Spencer and his wife compared to other people?
Holden says “he acts quite young for his age” what could this statement signify for the reader's’ perspective on Holden?
Based on the reading so far, what do you think Holden’s perspective of himself is? How does he view himself in a physical and mental sense?
How is the role of the unreliable narrator a factor in this section of the book?
Holden characterizes Spencer’s behavior as “depressing” but Spencer’s actions seem to be motivated by concern for Holden’s well-being. Why does Holden think this way? How does this contribute to your understanding of how Holden forms relationships with and interacts with people?
What time period is the story set in? What evidence from …show more content…

Lying and deception are the most obvious and hurtful elements of the larger category of phoniness. Holden’s definition of phoniness relies mostly on a kind of self-deception: he seems to reserve the most scorn for people who think that they are something they are not or who refuse to acknowledge their own weaknesses. Isolation Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him. As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong.

Youth The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, a novel about a young character’s growth into maturity. While it is appropriate to discuss the novel in such terms, Holden Caulfield is an unusual protagonist for a bildungsroman because his central goal is to resist the process of maturity itself. But he refuses to acknowledge this fear, expressing it only in a few instances—for example, when he talks about sex and admits

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As the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.

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As Holden searches for authenticity in his relationships with others, Mr. Spencer, Carl Luce, and Mr. Antolini guide him to understanding the importance of trust. Even though Holden has mentors throughout the book, he has to discover that trust is the basis of all relationships on his own. Holden receives a collection of confusing, but relevant advice throughout the story starting when Mr. Spencer, whom tells Holden "Life is a game", hinting that it's hard and competitive. Mr. Spencer continues his conversation by yelling his frustration "what's the matter with you” expressing his uncaring and disgraceful nature hoping to help Holden. Mr. Spencer finally sums up his opinions, making Holden feel uncertain by putting pressure on Holden when

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Although most of the time, Holden demonstrates his rebellious side, he actually still has fragile side. “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by”(7). “Good-by” is a word can brings a sense of sadness. Holden’s thoughts about “good-by” demonstrate he is a fragile boy who is like a piece of glass, easy to be broken. This shows that Holden is a person who has desire to love and care from others.

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About 15 million children suffer from mental illness disorder nationwide, but only about 7% of those children actually get the help they need from health professionals. (https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/anxiety-and-depression) Throughout the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger, the main character, Holden, has to face many scarring challenges at an extremely young age, such as the death of his younger brother Allie. Holden feels extremely lonely, and doesn’t have anybody to turn to, causing him to seek out attention from strangers. His parents have been absent throughout his life and have sent him off anywhere but home. Because Holden faces difficulties with Allie’s death due to a lack of parental support he finds it challenging developing strong personal relationships, causing him

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The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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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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Even though he is skeptical of people he considers phony, such as Marty who lies about seeing a movie star, his negativity and judgement of others usually goes a lot farther than what is considered normal. For example, he doesn’t get serious in relationships with others, because he always seems to find flaws in everyone. Another example is when Holden’s history teacher at Pencey, Mr. Spencer, wants to understand why he refuses to put in any effort. Spencer feels bad about failing Holden and reaches out to him, trying to connect with him and possibly influence him positively. However, Holden gets upset and starts talking poorly of him once he hears this, and later excuses himself with a lie he made up to leave, showing both his self-defence mechanism and his skepticism towards people he liked.

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Since Holden does not like the perceived phoniness of the world, he establishes a wall of lying and deception in order to distance himself from what he refuses to become, which makes Holden the biggest phony of them all. Throughout the book we see Holden criticizing people who he believes to be phony. In J.D. Salinger’s novel the Catcher in the Rye Holden states, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all” (19).

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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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The main character of the narrative has gone through hardship in his childhood, he’s trying to cope with life and unwilling to become an adult can ultimately have a great impact you which is expressed in Holden's behavior, character and sense of mentality Throughout the novel the author presents a variety of defense mechanism used by the protagonist for example projection. A Freudian analysis would provide a level of understanding of projection as “A defense mechanism involving the projection of one's own unacceptable impulses, wishes and urges onto a person”(Sigmund). Holden tries to run away from reality and live some sort of fantasy world. Therefore when he went on a date with his friend Sally he wanted her to accept all of his wishes and impulses.

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’’ This is clearly showing the defiance that Holden shows to the older generations, even though this is after he was kicked out of Spency (His old school) the way he speaks to Spencer (An old teacher), just shows the reader that after everything that just happened within his life, Holden still is adamant not to show the slightest amount of remorse or any apology to the people he has

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He has his own way of expressing his feelings and thoughts and he feels like the world around him is being cruel. There are lots of examples that shows that Holden is different from the ideal person in the community. Such as, he is unable to communicate with the people in his age, he fails his schools multiple times and in the future he is hospitalized and seeing a psychoanalyst. One of the biggest example is when he expresses his feelings about what Mr. Spencer says to him: “Game, my ass. Some game.

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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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Although Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to

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In this novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is the narrator that goes through a variety of problems. He has dilemmas, but meets/reconnects with people on his quest of life. This novel is more than just a simple story about a protagonist and his life events. This novel follows the structure of bildungsroman. There are four parts to it- character’s growth in social structure, a form of loss, process of maturity, and if the character ends in a new place of society.

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