How Does Salinger Criticize The Theme Of Authenticity

Discuss the theme of authenticity and how it is used to criticize the superficiality and inauthenticity of society in the novel.

Authenticity is a term most often employed when referring to objects and expressing the genuineness of their origins. Inauthenticity describes the opposite: when something is fake or is not what it is said to be. However, these concepts can also apply to people, or, more specifically, society itself. Through his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger explores this theme of authenticity and uses it to criticise the superficiality and inauthenticity of society. In connection to the theme of social class, people are presented as being phoney. Furthermore, an obsession with outer appearance reveals individuals’

The beginning of the story sees the main character expressing his individuality in small, and ultimately harmless, ways. He chooses to isolate himself from a football game, makes a show of his eccentricity by “tap-dancing” and “imitating one of those guys in the movies” for Stradlater’s entertainment, and shouts “Sleep tight, ya morons” when leaving Pencey. There appears to be a shift after Holden leaves his school behind, and the pace of the story quickens. Holden finds increasingly unhinged ways in which to set himself apart from others. In New York, he goes out to nightclubs and bars, meets a multitude of new people and moves from one place to another in what appears to be an agitated and anxious way. At this point, the structure becomes almost repetitive, with Holden always after some form of pleasure or entertainment. The effect that this repetitiveness has on the reader is that if feels as if Holden is stuck in a cycle, unable to move forward in his

He then walks away, calling the person phoney. One example of this is Holden’s date with “old Sally Hayes”, where he calls her a “royal pain in the ass.” One interpretation could be that Holden simply struggles to relate to people and is incapable of holding a conversation. On the other hand, another way of looking at it may be that Holden distances himself from others in order to avoid becoming phoney like them. Perhaps Holden is forever keeping himself in check, making sure that he does not conform to society’s inauthentic values. It is possible that Salinger is underlining that one can spend their whole life attempting to remain true and pure, but it means that no real progress can be made. Maybe being obsessed with authenticity means that you cannot get anywhere; because society is false, it is easier to simply allow yourself to become a phoney, and then life will be kinder to