Why Is Holden's Phony Wrong

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. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding.

Throughout the first half of the book Holden is upset by people who do not have the same morals as him. When Holden perceives that someone has done something wrong, he resents that person. For example, Holden resented his previous headmaster and considered him a phony. Holden thought the headmaster was snubbing other parents, by acting charming to them, but only spending his time on the attractive parents. Holden states “I can’t stand that stuff. It drives me crazy. It makes me so depressed I go crazy” (Salinger 17). Therefore, he has a firm belief in what is right or wrong, and he considers people that don’t meet his standards to be

Therefore, since being a phony goes against his sense of right and wrong, he avoids doing the movie short. Holden’s sense of right and wrong is a little strange, for example, some people might think it is wrong to lie, but Holden lies frequently throughout the first half of the book. Additionally, Holden lies, but doesn’t consider himself a phony. This is curious, because Holden’s excessive lying seems like the behavior of a “phony,” which is exactly what Holden dislikes most in the world. Therefore, his behavior appears to go against his own sense of right and wrong.
Overall, I think Holden has a strong sense of right and wrong, however his actions don’t always reflect his morals. He believes it is wrong, or “phony” for others to lie, or be ingenuine, however he lies excessively even when he doesn’t particularly have something to gain from lying. It is possible, if he connected how his behavior mirrors what he dislikes most in others, he might be more likely to act according to his own sense of right or wrong, but if he continues to believe he is not a “phony,” he will continue to see others are in the wrong, and think he is in the