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Psychological analysis of holden caulfield
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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,
Holden perceives men as phonies, boring annoyances, or perverts. He believes men should not be trusted around females. “You figured most of them (girls at the Radio City Music Hall) would probably marry dopey guys. Guys that always talk about how many miles they get to a gallon in their goddam cars. Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf,...
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.
He was unscrupulous...” (Ch. 6, p. 22) With the knowledge of how sexual Stradlater can be, Holden wrangles with his own mind
He gives it a very pessimistic and cynical attitude. Since Holden sees everything in such a negative manner, he refers to almost everyone except for his sister, Phoebe, as a phony. He instantly gives everyone he meets the title of a phony. As he is on the topic of an all boys school, he refers to it as “full of phonies” (page 131). Salinger has given Holden such a negative outlook that almost everything that comes out of Holden’s mouth is negative.
In Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is challenged by the world around him. One of the main issues he faces is “ . . . constantly [feeling] as if he is being surrounded by his enemies. (Huber and Ledbetter 254)”
He'd already told me about it about a hundred times. Every time he told it, it was different" (20). This is an example of Holden's conception of the truth behind Ackley being a phony. He is also always disapproving people for their self awareness and their wanting to live their live like a mature adult. That impart has to due with Holden's sense of innocence of not wanting to grow up and to do what the rest of the world is doing.
1. Holden Caulfield is a seventeen-year-old boy from a wealthy family, who doesn’t care about many things and enjoys lying to other people. Holden makes a point throughout the first half of the book to show how skilled he is at lying to other people; however, he also hates when other people are phony. Therefore, Holden is a hypocrite, he holds other people to higher standards and considers them phonies, when Holden in fact is a phony considering his tendency to be dishonest and spin tales about himself. Even Holden doesn’t always seem to enjoy or be in control of his lying, for example, he states “Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket.
In conclusion, Holden is a phony because because he pretends to be someone that he is not, he contradicts himself, and he blames others for things that he is responsible for. Holden, making such a big deal about phonies ended up being one. This shows that no matter what you do, the society will always play a big role in influencing one’s behavior and the way that one
It 's awful” (19). Again, Holden says that he’s a “terrific” liar although he’s an “awful” liar. Holden doesn’t make the observation here because he’s denying the truth. Holden isn’t reliable because his observations is inaccurate and the readers has to interpret what he
The effects of Holden constantly isolating himself can be seen especially through his improper speech and how he speaks to others. For example in chapter two Holden says “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies (pg 14).” In this Holden is exhibiting his poor vocabulary and shows how he does not put thought into the things he says. When he uses the word phonies to describe the boys at Elkton Hills in reality he means he thinks they are boys whom he is not friends with and does not like. In many other cases Holden appears to immediately result to the word phony when describing something or someone he does not like.
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes.
He lies intensely throughout the course of the novel, starting from lying to Ackley at the very beginning of the book. From his sarcastic tone in his conversation with other people, readers can denote his own cynical view on the world. Holden views adulthood as phony, hypocritical and fake while childhood in his mind is a world of innocence, honesty, and joy. That is the main reason why he wants to be a “catcher in the rye” to protect and save all the children from falling into the phony adult world. Holden Caulfield’s despise of fakeness causes his resistance of growing into a more mature person, with the lack of ability to interact with other people, make him a
In chapter 2 page 13 Holden says “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all.”. Holden is feeling happy that he is being kicked out of Pencey Prep because he is being surrounded by phonies. Holden dislikes phonies the most. In chapter 3 page 24 Holden says “Ackley!
