Holden is an almost interesting character, even if a very frustrating one. He thinks people that are happy with whatever is popular are phonies, and really dislikes them. He also has that whole self deprecating thing going on. Is just a little bit f a hypocrite too, if you ask me.
He has a real problem with people he thinks are phonies (Salinger 141). Do not ask me what a phonie is, because I could not really tell you. I guess people who only care about what the most popular thing is are frustrating, but they are not bothering anyone. What does it matter if they do not have well thought out opinions, because after all, a person can always just ignore them. And by the way, why in the world does he have a problem with the word “grand” (Salinger 106)? It is just a word. I guess fake people like that used to bother me a lot, and until just recently too, so maybe I do not have much room to talk. Even so, I never really let that feeling get nearly as much of me as he has.
I have already written a lot about how down Holden is on his self, so I think I will move on to the next characteristic.
When Stradlater acts like he had sex with a girl he just met, Holden gets really angry. He basically tells Stradlater that a relationship should be about more than physical things, and should be about the person herself, only, not nearly as articulately (Salinger 44). Then when Holden goes to New York, he makes himself a date with a girl named Sally. He hates her for being a phonie, but he dates he because he likes kissing her (Salinger 105). Is that not a whole lot of hypocritical, as in enough to fill an entire person, especially considering Holden get his face beat for getting so angry at Stradlater. If that was not enough, Holden absolutely hates phonies, but he makes a date with a girl he calls “queen of the phonies” (Salinger 116). That is pretty darn hypocritical if you ask me, but you do not have to ask me because I am telling you anyway.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.
Excellent! Glad you wrote about the hypocrisy of the novel.
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