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Why Is Holden's Phony Wrong

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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. …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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His most common acts of defiance are running away and being a liar. Holden ran away from Pencey, and avoided going home just to avoid the punishment his father would dish out upon him. Phoebe says exactly what he would do to him: "Daddy's going to kill you." (173) Holden lied many times, broke many laws, and is a general hypocrite in this sense. He attempts to get sympathy quite a few times throughout the story, going so far as to claim he has a “tiny little tumor on the brain” (58) when asked why he was getting out of school so early by Ernest Morrow’s mother.

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Holden can put an end to his judgmental behavior by watching the movie Rocky. Throughout the novel, Holden constantly judges people and calls them phonies. An example of this is when Holden says “I can just see the phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs”(20). Holden does not know much about who he is talking about but finds it necessary to judge them. In the movie Rocky, there is an example of not judging a book by its cover.

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Holden Caulfield’s early loss of innocence causes him to fiercely guard the innocence of others, resulting in pain for him when he realizes that his attempts are futile. Holden’s negative experiences with the adults in his life lead to his valuing the idea of innocence. Despite his bad role models, Holden clings to the concept that integrity is the most important quality in a person. While reflecting on one of his old boarding schools, he expresses his dislike for its “phony” headmaster, Mr. Haas. He complains, “[O]ld Haas went around shaking hands with everybody's parents when they drove up to school.

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Holden's hypocrisy towards this way of acting is unbelievable to the reader. Proving to the audience that he's a sick, unreliable narrator to trust. Another Secondary source coming from Susan K. Mitchell explains how in-depth she is into Holdens hypocrisy in the novel. She states “Holden will not tell much about his parents beyond his veiled opinion that they both are phony hypocrites. The reader is not even told their first names.

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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.

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He asked Sally Hayes on a date and asks a people he does not even like to go out with him. It does not make sense how he wants an emotional connection with someone but does not want to make a connection especially with new people. Holden is an extremely judgmental person and judges just about everyone. He believes that everyone is insecure, fake, out to get him or his most common word, “phony.” He has so much to say about everyone but never actually confronts him or her and says it.

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Holden is very cynical and naïve. He is cynical by him dreaming of being “the catcher in the rye” which is naïve and is a concept of someone who protects children. Holden is the complete opposite of that. Holden doesn't really care for children and in a way only really

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Although Holden considers his school liars for not fully implementing their motto, he also labels himself ‘the most terrific liar.” Consequently, in almost every situation, Holden finds a way to develop fictitious stories of his life to avoid speaking the truth. On a train ride to New York, Holden encounters mother of classmate Ernest Morrow and creates a fake identity to falsely praise her son, who he actually considers the “biggest bastard” at Pencey. Holden’s inability to remain honest displays how he is no different than the classmates he criticizes for sharing only certain aspects of themselves to the rest of the world. Additionally, during the novel there are many times where Holden acts opposite to his own beliefs.

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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

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

After getting kicked out of yet another school, he starts to become depressed. Since he does not have anyone to talk to about how he really feels, he continues to lie. Holden’s feelings of deep loneliness drive his behavior throughout the novel. Holden has a negative outlook on people because people in his life continually

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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.

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457 Words | 2 Pages

He does not want to ask others for help, but rather he keeps his feelings’ to himself. Holden is againest some adults who in his opinion, are considered “phonies”. In Chapter 2, Holden explains why he left Elkton Hills, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. They were all coming from the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the biggest phoniest bastard I ever met in my life”(pg.13-14).

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1222 Words | 5 Pages

Holden has little control over his actions, is constantly lying, and purposefully alienates himself from others. It is clear of these things because, although Holden never says it, he makes it obvious he is undergoing treatment for this exact thing as he is writing this story. It’s clear that he thinks that becoming an adult is so bad because his parents were terrible to him and gave him no attention growing up. As a result, his mind became entangled with the notion that becoming an adult was bad and that he had to keep everyone from becoming one. Holden was clearly insane, he didn’t get any love or affection from his parents, he couldn’t let go of past trauma, and he struggled with the fact that everyone had to grow up.

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394 Words | 2 Pages

During therapy, Holden recalled numerous events where he would act cynical towards 'phony ' people. Although acting mean towards people you don 't like may seem somewhat relatable, the extent of Holden 's skeptical behavior was simply beyond comprehensive. Holden always tries finds errors in companions he wishes to relate with, but as a result of the discovery of these flaws, he ends up breaking relationships. I remember him talking about a couple of people in particular, one of them being his own brother, D.B.. "

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

And I didn’t like her much. Nobody did. You had to feel sort of sorry for her, in a way” (). This demonstrates Holden’s failure to understand people and the judgemental thoughts he has. He often has these judgemental thoughts to distance himself from others.

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