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Holden caulfield's personality analytical essay
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Whenever Holden comments on other people, he calls them “phony” in order to distance himself emotionally and isolate his feelings. Even when talking about his sister Phoebe, with whom he holds the strongest emotional bond, he simply says she would “feel pretty bad if [Holden died]. She likes [Holden] a lot.” (173). In the instances Holden finds himself unable to insult a particular relationship to discourage himself from becoming attached,
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.
In the books The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby the main characters are phony. Yet, one is phonier than the other and that is Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield is the phoniest because he lies about his name, he’s an hypocrite judges people for things he does as well, and he lied about his age so that he could drink alcohol. By way of example, Holden is a character in the book The Catcher in the Rye. Indeed, Holden was suffering and grieving from his brother’s death.
When Holden was at a Earls piano bar and he lied to D.B.’s ex- girlfriend that he had to leave because, he thought she was annoying and left the even though he didn't want to. He seems not to care too much about his ex-girlfriend Sally either, he told her she was a pain in the butt;
“I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.” This is a contradiction in Holden’s behavior throughout the story. Holden dislikes when people lie to him. But Holden himself lies to people all the time.
Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye we see Holden struggling to make connections with many different people and Phoebe being the only person he really trusts. The book shows us in a couple different ways how much of a problem recognizing uniqueness really is for him through Holden's attitude about people, his values for only true friendships, and his system to cope with rejection from others. Holden's attitude towards the way he thinks people really are is very prominent in the book. He uses the word phony countless times as a way of describing a person. Anytime anyone tries to have a conversations with someone he blocks them out because he feels as though they are just liars who are bragging about things that aren't even
Conformity and rebellion are going against the act of being socially influenced involving yourself in change of behavior or belief to fit in with a group. For example in the book CITR, the main character Holden Caulfield feels as if he is mentally being forced to conform into something he's not. He uses rebellion to try and control this behavior, but it seems to take over. Conformity can be beneficial just as much as it can be detrimental. It's a leading factor driven by a society that can cause changes in the way you act, think, or dress, although it can be discarded by the use of rebellion.
Attending school in the 1950s, Holden is a victim of a conformist American society. In a historical context, postwar America is characterized by a booming economy, industrialization and the creation of uniform suburban communities throughout the country. There was also a call for a united America, with the tensions of the Cold War taking hold and a need to fight communism. This attitude of uniformity could be seen in the American education system at the same time, where students were expected to fit the mould of the ideal American child. This child was idealized as being obedient, respectful and subordinate to their superiors.
Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.” (Salinger, 58). Throughout the whole novel, Holden stresses how he absolutely hates when people lie, however here he admits how good of a liar he is, and how hard he finds it to stop.
While reading this book, one may notice that the main character Holden calls almost every character that we meet phonies. Never once in the book did Holden call himself a phony. The word phony was used 48 times throughout this entire novel making it one of the top 5 words used in this book. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger. This book is narrated by the main character Holden Caulfield.
Along with the many people he meets during his journey home, Holden goes to see a girl named Sally. He tells Sally he loves her as a lie, just to prove to himself he can be crazy. Holden is lying to someone he could have a real relationship with, but ruins it. Holden says to Sally, “Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it.
It is the “phoniness” he wants to blame. Salinger used “phony” this word many times in the book and is one of the most famous word from “The Catcher in the Rye” and it accurately describes the human nature of most adults’. During Holden’s three-day-trip in New York, he has met and encountered with many characters who are pretentious and fake, from Mr. Spencer to Luce and Sally. In society people have to lie or be “phony” just to socialize, or impress someone. Holden is a judgemental person who keeps observing other people’s phoniness but never notices them in himself.
Holden lies as a result of his depression, in order to hide the fact that he’s lonely and bored with his life, to divert any questions which he believes are too personal, and to create his own reality. In this way, Salinger illustrates how, during difficult times, people resort to lying as a coping mechanism. In the beginning of the story, Holden lied to divert questions in order to protect his personal information.
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.
Holden first had a conversation with Mr. Spencer in chapter 2. Mr. Spencer is Holden’s history teacher at Pencey Prep. Holden says that Mr. Spencer is not very wealthy because they do not have a maid and that they have to open the door themselves. This is different than Mr. Antolini because Mr. Antolini is wealthy and Holden describes this in chapter 24. Mr. Spencer is the only teacher and Pencey Prep that cares that Holden was expelled.
