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How Does Holden Judge Each Other As A Projection Of His Own Insecurities

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Holden’s Hypocritical Judgements: A Reflection of his Insecurities in The Catcher in the Rye In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger illustrates that people judge each other as a projection of their own insecurities. Using mood, Salinger illustrates how Holden judges people as a projection of his own insecurities. The readers are introduced to the mood that Holden sets when his mood towards people is sour. Holden is jealous and insecure about these people enjoying themselves, so he says this: “Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing a street with their arms around each other's waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn’t funny.” Page 44. It becomes apparent the struggles Holden has with being more positive about people. After all, he lacks a genuine connection to anyone, which is proven because almost every time Holden speaks badly about someone it is when the person is either talented or the person is having a good time …show more content…

Irony is a powerful literary device that highlights the hypocrisy of Holden’s judgment of others. We see irony clearly when Holden says something which is a controversial statement due to its nature. While watching a piano player who is playing in front of a large crowd Holden takes an interesting view of the man. “It was very phony- I mean him being such a big snob and all in a funny way” Page 46. Holden saying this man that he doesn’t know personally is a phony and a snob is quite ironic because he is judging people who are looked highly upon. Because we know Holden doesn’t know this man it makes it apparent that Holden is judging him due to jealousy and insecurity as the man is popular, and talented which are both characteristics Holden believes he lacks. Holden judges all sorts of people to make himself better instead of feeling happy for other

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138 Words | 1 Pages

Holden can put an end to his judgmental behavior by watching the movie Rocky. Throughout the novel, Holden constantly judges people and calls them phonies. An example of this is when Holden says “I can just see the phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs”(20). Holden does not know much about who he is talking about but finds it necessary to judge them. In the movie Rocky, there is an example of not judging a book by its cover.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

In J.D. Salinger “Catcher in the Rye” Holden says statements that catch the eye of some readers by the way he pays attention to her and loving

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828 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical Précis 1: In his essay, “ Love and Death in The Catcher in the Rye” (1991), Peter Shaw claimed that Holden behavior and way of thinking is due to common abnormal behavior in a certain time for teenagers (par. 10). Shaw supported his assertion of the young Holden by comparing the literary culture of the 1950s and how Holden’s fictional character fits within the contemporary Americans novels as a, “ sensitive, psychological cripples but superior character” (par. 3). Shaw’s purpose was to show that Holden’s sensitive and psychological behavior is not abnormal, but such like stated by Mrs. Trilling that,” madness is a normal, even a better then normal way of life” (par 4). Peter Shaw’s tone assumed a highly educated audience who is

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366 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden acts very immature. He shows this through running away from home as well as Pency Prep, his school, in which he failed most of his classes. Holden changes his mind very quickly, and is incredibly fast to judge. He also shows immaturity by acting like a blind woman on the street. When people come to contact with problems, they face them head-on.

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289 Words | 2 Pages

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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1017 Words | 5 Pages

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, there are minor characters such as Phoebe and Stradlater that resemble the different characteristics that Holden has, and this is presented through their relationships with him suchs the innocence and hope that Phoebe has and gives peace to Holden, and the corruption and falseness that Stradlater maintains while showing his “phoniness” which causes Holden anger, yet it shows his hypocrisy. While he does have a good side to his personality because he wants the best for the future of the younger kids and praises honesty as well as innocence, Holden also has a negative side to his character that shows his loss of hope and corruption through the use of his language and angry nature towards others and

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860 Words | 4 Pages

Holden Caulfield internally rebels against society, choosing to value his own defiant, unorthodox judgment over the authority figures and institutions in his life. He describes nearly everyone in society as hypocritical and “phony,” and constantly points out people’s flaws. In the environment of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a social outcast, since he detests the phonies and refuses to engage in their pretentious behavior. Salinger demonstrates these people do not act according to their true personalities, and instead try to change their behavior to conform to social expectations. Furthermore, Holden observes that many continually focus on money and celebrities, leaving no room for any positive emotions or genuine connections.

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1072 Words | 5 Pages

The reader observes Holden’s insecurities when Holden calls the prostitute to his hotel room. He mentions to himself, “I know you’re supposed to feel sexy when somebody gets up and pulls their dress over their head, but I didn’t. Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. (Salinger 123)” This exemplifies how Holden struggles when dealing with females.

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This shows Holden is trying to cover up his own vulnerability about not wanting to grow up and instead masks it with immature comments of others to make himself feel younger and childlike. Another example of Holden's critical observations is when he and Jane are intruded on by her mother's husband asking where the cigarettes are. Holden has a very critical opinion of the man immediately. In Holden’s perspective, this man is who Holden believes he should be, and it intimidates him because Holden knows he does not want to be like this stereotypical man. Holden says, “I didn't know him too well or anything, but he looked like the kind of a guy that wouldn't talk to you much unless he wanted something off you.

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463 Words | 2 Pages

Holden copes with his insecurities in many ways, including calling other people phonies as well as judging and making fun of them, and there are many different examples of this in the text. For instance, on page 209, Holden says, “Then I lit another cigarette - it was my last one. I must’ve smoked about three cartons that day.” Smoking, drinking alcohol, and having sex are some of the ways Holden copes with the stresses and hardships in his life, and from this quote specifically, we can see how extremely nervous he was the day he came

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1210 Words | 5 Pages

Justin Wong English 2A, Ms. Mitchell Block 7 17 April 2017 Holden Caulfield's Judgmental Qualities JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, characterizes Holden’s tendency to accuse people of acting fake in order to stay within the social norms. Holden feels he is surrounded by phonies, who he judges as hypocritical, shallow, superficial, and inauthentic. He experiences phoniness mainly in the adult world and believe adults such as lawyers and actors are taking on a new identity other than themselves. The transition into the adult world is what Holden fears the most in his life.

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983 Words | 4 Pages

To expand upon, Holdens overarching fear of letting other people know the real him is rooted to his ideal that he is not desirable. Significantly, Holden subconsciously is aware of his sadness since he discusses the tumor in his brain, which the reader can connect to his toxic, bitter thoughts that filter through his mind daily. Therefore, every time Holden starts to uncontrollably lie to others, he is also deceiving himself as a way to try to convince himself that he is not as sad as his mind makes him believe. Above all, one of Holden’s origins of his depressive case is by reason of his compulsive

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971 Words | 4 Pages

Holden gets jealous of the dude because he wants to have all the attention and to have Sally like him. Holden wants to belong and fit in with society, even though he can seem to be a

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the first half of the book Holden is upset by people who do not have the same morals as him. When Holden perceives that someone has done something wrong, he resents that person. For example, Holden resented his previous headmaster and considered him a phony. Holden thought the headmaster was snubbing other parents, by acting charming to them, but only spending his time on the attractive parents. Holden states “I can’t stand that stuff.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

He asked Sally Hayes on a date and asks a people he does not even like to go out with him. It does not make sense how he wants an emotional connection with someone but does not want to make a connection especially with new people. Holden is an extremely judgmental person and judges just about everyone. He believes that everyone is insecure, fake, out to get him or his most common word, “phony.” He has so much to say about everyone but never actually confronts him or her and says it.

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