Phoniness and Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye
There comes a time when everybody has to say good-bye to their teenage years and become an adult. The carefree childhood will be challenged by strains and expectations. Those unwilling to face them are doomed to fail. Holden Caulfield, the 16-year-old protagonist of J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, is one of the adolescents who question the attraction of being an adult. Shortly before Christmas vacation, Holden has been expelled from an elite prep school in Pennsylvania. Disinclined to stay at the school any longer or return home, Holden decides to spend a few days in New York City. During his tour, he meets different people that he calls "phonies". The frequent use of the word has a deeper meaning than it might appear at first look. Holden's obsession with phoniness demonstrates his conflict with the hypocritical adult world.
The word "phony" has a unique meaning for Holden. He uses it to describe people that pretend to be someone else in order to feel superior. They lie to themselves and to others. This deception does not always happen consciously. For example, the first so-called phony that Holden mentions is Mr. Ossenburger, who made a lot of money by burying people with cheap funerals. He says that this man "came up to school in this big goddam Cadillac, and we all had to stand up in the grandstand and give him a locomotive - that's a cheer" (16). Holden calls him a phony because Ossenburger talks about integrity and praying to Jesus in his speech to the students while he takes advantage of mourning families. Furthermore, the school is phony because they welcomed him and named a dorm after him only because he gave the school money. This hypocrisy bothers Holden very much. Whether it is a stereotype presented in a movie, or the expression "grand", he classifies them into the category "phony".
Holden's hatred towards phoniness is closely connected with his protecting nature. In his mind, phoniness is an element of adulthood. Being an adult means
The word "phony" has a unique meaning for Holden. He uses it to describe people that pretend to be someone else in order to feel superior. They lie to themselves and to others. This deception does not always happen consciously. For example, the first so-called phony that Holden mentions is Mr. Ossenburger, who made a lot of money by burying people with cheap funerals. He says that this man "came up to school in this big goddam Cadillac, and we all had to stand up in the grandstand and give him a locomotive - that's a cheer" (16). Holden calls him a phony because Ossenburger talks about integrity and praying to Jesus in his speech to the students while he takes advantage of mourning families. Furthermore, the school is phony because they welcomed him and named a dorm after him only because he gave the school money. This hypocrisy bothers Holden very much. Whether it is a stereotype presented in a movie, or the expression "grand", he classifies them into the category "phony".
Holden's hatred towards phoniness is closely connected with his protecting nature. In his mind, phoniness is an element of adulthood. Being an adult means