Who Is Holden Caulfield's Phony

The “Phony” In Holden Caulfield
In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, the character Holden Caulfield shows his dislike towards other characters in the novel by characterizing them as “phonies”. People who are dishonest when self representing themselves for their own self interest are usually judged by Holden. Holden has high standards for other people especially adults and often characterizes other characters who do not meet his standards as “phonies” but he often behaves similarly to them. He is critical towards most characters and holds high standards when determining who is a phony and who is not. He also often has the same characteristics as somebody that would be called a “phony” would have. His hypocrisy is shown in many ways including his continuous lying, and his behavior with different characters

In the text it states, “It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.”(Salinger 34) Holden lies to Ernest's mother by telling him that he has to go home early because he has a tumor on his brain. Instead of being honest with her, Holden told his mother an immense amount of lies. Instead of telling her the truth, he says he has to go home because he has a tumor in his brain. Holden calls whoever lies to look better in public a phony, but he performs similar actions. Salinger does not portray Holden’s expectations as reasonable because he portrays Holden’s character as not living up to the same expectations. Holden holds a lot of expectations for who is phony and who is not but he is often found contradicting the same expectations. He calls people that lie to look good in front of others phonies, but he finds it okay to repeatedly lie to Ernest Morrow’s mother. By portraying phoniness through Holden’s character, Salinger shows that Holden’s expectations for who is phony and who is not are not reasonable because Holden fails to meet the expectations