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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye

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The book The Catcher in the Rye is a story of internal conflicts and the shallowness of adulthood. The main character, Holden, is struggling to maintain his strong voice of innocence in a fight only involving himself. One of the many reasons for Holden’s emotional devastation is the death of his younger brother Allie. Allie passed away three years earlier from leukemia and this of course highly affected Holden’s mental state at the time even if he didn’t know it. Salinger’s tone held the most importance of this book. 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. He also referably doesn’t have a filter. Having no filter is just Holden not thinking about what he is about to say or not holding back any of his feelings. …show more content…

The fact that Holden calls everyone a phony, when he is the biggest phony himself. He starts off chapter 3 by stating “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.” (page 16). He spends some time in the novel talking about how good of a liar he is. This refers back to him holding onto his childhood innocence. Children, especially lie all the time but usually about the smallest things, whether it be about candy or a toy. Holden carries on this trait by being a compulsive liar at age 16. After bragging about how much of a liar he is, he then tells the readers to “trust him”. Holden vented about how much he hated Sally but then continued to ask her on a date; which would be an example of situational

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652 Words | 3 Pages

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,

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901 Words | 4 Pages

Another person can decide whether or not they want to be around a person when taking into consideration what they have said or done in the past. In the novel, The Catcher in The Rye, the main theme is every action you make contributes to developing who you are as a person. Lying is an action that helps shape Holden into a deceitful and comedic person. There are many situations in the novel where he lies to entertain himself, such as meeting the mother of one of his classmates from Pencey, Ernie Morrow.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

“In the first place, I hate actors. They never act like people” (Salinger 152). In Holden’s attempt to disconnect himself from other people he puts on an act. He’s immature and pretends he is someone he’s not. Even though he hates the idea of actors, he continues to act like one.

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2021 Words | 9 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, is the story of an angst-ridden sixteen year old Holden Caulfield as he learns to deal with growing up. The story follows Holden through his three day experience through New York as he learns about the truth about innocence, sex, and mortality, making The Catcher in the Rye one of America’s most notable coming-of-age stories. One of the largest influences on Holden’s life was his younger brother Allie who died from leukemia at age eleven when Holden was thirteen. The death of Holden’s brother had a profound effect on Holden emotional state, which eventually caused his complete mental breakdown by the end of the novel.

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714 Words | 3 Pages

He takes the reader on a journey over a few days from him leaving the school to roaming the streets of New York. The question is Holden a Phony often pops into the minds of the reader. Holden is a phony because he is a hypocrite who does things that he criticize others for. He is a phony because he pretends to be someone that he is not,

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Holden observes that the actor is trying to act modest and like no one is staring at him, even though people are clearly watching him. Holden finds this phony because this actor is trying to act like a good modest person, but Holden knows that he is cocky. This phoniness intrigues Holden because he is able to forget about the disappointments in his life and focus on the impurities of someone else’s

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Without doubt, this exemplifies Holden’s ability to make observations. Holden doesn’t wash his face because the gore made him look tough and he likes it but he also proclaims that he’s a “pacifist”. Holden does one but says the opposite, this demonstrates Holden’s poor observation skills. Furthermore, in the novel, Holden says “I 'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye Thematic Essay Imagine living a lonesome life, full of fear and little hope of better days to come. Imagine the toll this would take on a person’s life and how they develop as a person. For Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye this, is his reality. Holden is a sixteen year old troubled boy suffering through major mental issues and living a rather a depressing life for a teenager. Throughout the novel he goes through many hardships that only worsen his depression making him feel hatred towards his seemingly hellish world.

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‘Holden is just as phony as the phonies he criticizes.’ This statement is predominantly true as Holden disconnects from his ideals by acting in a certain way. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, seems to be infatuated with the phonies he comes across. He calls his schoolmates, principal, teachers, actors, girlfriends, and people he meets along the way all phonies. As the story continues, Holden proves himself to be the biggest phony of all the characters in Salinger's novel.

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692 Words | 3 Pages

Although everything is understandable, much of Holden's slang and wording feels dated and old. Holden uses the term “Phoniness” and “phony” along the book to depict the adult world as superficial and hypocritical. This word feels dated for the modern teenager and would probably be adapted to a more contemporary and relatable word: poser. The word phony has lost its place in modern teenager vocabulary. Along the book, it is also possible to spot obsolete slang words commonly used.

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1308 Words | 6 Pages

Shouldn’t someone who acts tough and often brags know that they will never become a phony? The answer would be yes if Holden wasn’t so insecure. Holden’s childish ways cause him to never mature and figure out who he is as a person. We see many signs of Holden insecurities throughout the book, like the fact that he contradicts himself. An example of this would be when Sally and Holden are in the taxi and he tells her he loves her, he then counties to say, “It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it” (Salinger 139).

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1418 Words | 6 Pages

It is the “phoniness” he wants to blame. Salinger used “phony” this word many times in the book and is one of the most famous word from “The Catcher in the Rye” and it accurately describes the human nature of most adults’. During Holden’s three-day-trip in New York, he has met and encountered with many characters who are pretentious and fake, from Mr. Spencer to Luce and Sally. In society people have to lie or be “phony” just to socialize, or impress someone. Holden is a judgemental person who keeps observing other people’s phoniness but never notices them in himself.

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1378 Words | 6 Pages

Holden lies as a result of his depression, in order to hide the fact that he’s lonely and bored with his life, to divert any questions which he believes are too personal, and to create his own reality. In this way, Salinger illustrates how, during difficult times, people resort to lying as a coping mechanism. In the beginning of the story, Holden lied to divert questions in order to protect his personal information.

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1002 Words | 5 Pages

Sobrado, 1 Alexandra Sobrado 1B August 30, 2016 Who Runs the World...? Phoniness Holden Caulfield has a unique way of thinking, when he sees people he instantly begins to think they are phony. Throughout the whole book Holden calls everybody a phony, he thinks that everybody is fake. One example is Ackley. He begins to tell everybody about his summer and how he almost hooked up with a girl.

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Catcher in the Rye In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old junior undergoes a series of changes. Holden learns multiple life changing lessons; one of them is you must grow up. In the beginning of the novel, Holden starts out as “that kid”; the one with the parents who expect him to get into an ivy league school, and end up with a kid with no intentions of doing so. At the beginning of the book it is very apparent that Holden lacks motivation; he also has hit rock bottom.

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