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

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

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