Why Does Holden Use The Word Phony In Catcher In The Rye

Phony, in the dictionary, means either: not genuine; fraudulent, or a fraudulent person or thing, and can be used as an adjective or as a noun respectively. Holden uses the word phony to characterize insincere people and their language. As well, he uses the word as a defense mechanism in order to not get close and form relationships with other people, as he fears loneliness and craves companionship. He also struggles to be a “ladies man” or an academic success which drives him to label these types of people as phonies. This is clearly done so he can overcome his own faults and insecurities. As Holden struggles to combat his loneliness, he uses the word phony throughout the book as a defense mechanism and to overcome his insecurities, although

If you haven’t read the book, Holden mainly uses the word as a defense mechanism so he doesn’t create close relationships. He fears this will hurt him as he believes they will leave him. He fears loneliness. His life changed for the worse when his little brother, Allie, died of leukemia. Holden was only 13 yrs. old at the time of his brother’s death, which is a lot for someone to handle at such an age. Holden felt betrayed, lonely, he was lost and didn’t know what to do. Holden, due to his brother’s death, snapped and went on a destructive rampage around his house, smashing all the windows in the garage and about smashed all the windows on his family's car. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it,” (Salinger ). This event scarred him badly, and made him create trust issues with anyone he meets, making him not able to form relationships, making him lonely when he really craves for

He sees people who are insecure, shallow, and too conventional as “phonies”. Holden also believes that actors are “phonies” because to him they “never act like people”. Holden, therefore contradicts himself and can be considered a phony. Throughout the book he has many interactions with other people in New York and during these interactions he usually has to introduce himself in some way. You would probably think that he would just say who he is, right? Wrong, he instead makes up a fake name, gives himself a fake persona, and pretends to be something/someone he’s not. “Rudolf Schmidt,’ I told her. I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life story. Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm,” (Salinger ).This creates distance between him and the person he’s in contact with so that (as we discussed in the last paragraph) unable to create a real relationship with said person. Preventing him from being hurt as he fears they will leave him, but still leaving Holden as lonely as the moment he met the person. Holden hates phonies and fears loneliness, but is being hypocritical and hurting himself by being a phony as