The Catcher In The Rye Honesty Analysis

It might be said that a sweet lie can be better than the cold truth; however, it may be argued that honesty is a better feeling than the experience of believing a lie. Holden, the main character of the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, experiences similar attitudes towards the world of phonies that exists around him. Holden despises the phoniness of encountered characters, but he is not aware, ironically, of his own untruthfulness. This struggle to be self aware creates an ongoing conflict between what Holden believes and how he acts. Holden withholds his truths from the world, yet he seeks for truth from others, portraying a positive and negative perspective of the truth. Holden uses false tales to hide the truth of what he

Truth is an ally to Holden when he lies to Mrs. Morrow about the life of her son. Holden speaks, “‘Old Ernie… He’s one of the most popular boys at Pencey. Did you know that?’” (73). Next, Holden tells Mrs. Morrow of the election of class president where “‘[Ernie] was the unanimous choice… because he’s so darn shy and modest and all’” (74). Why would he tell such lies about a boy who clearly was the opposite of what Holden gushed about? After he has talked with Mrs. Morrow for some time, Holden thinks, “I’m glad I shot it for a while… I’ll bet, after all the crap I shot, Mrs. Morrow’ll keep thinking of him now as this very shy, modest guy that wouldn’t let us nominate him for president” (74). Explained in this passage, the reasoning behind Holden’s sugary lies is that he wanted to make Mrs. Morrow happy and give her something to be proud of in her son. Holden hides the truth of Ernie to make the better of a situation. On the opposite side of the spectrum, truth is an enemy to Holden when he encounters Sally Hayes. When Sally is first introduced, Salinger writes, “I used to think she was quite intelligent… she knew quite a lot about the theater and plays and literature… if somebody knows quite a lot about those things, it takes you quite a while to find out whether they’re really stupid or not” (137-138). Right away, Holden explains that

Hypocritically, Holden withholds his truths from the world though he seeks for truth from others. This portrays both a positive and negative perspective of the truth. Although Holden does not realize it, his actions provides a conflict to his constant disgust of the truths that others hide. While this may not be clear to Holden, the results are evident in context; while the lack of truth in others’ lives creates an enemy in Holden’s way, his personal lack of truth provides an ally to the journey of