An Analysis of Holden Caulfield

J.D. Salinger’s most popular novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is narrated from the point of view of the main character, Holden Caulfield. Holden is a very judgemental character who spends a lot of his time judging other people as a way to avoid looking into himself. His critiques of the people around him are often things that he himself is guilty of. Much of what you learn about Holden Caulfield, you learn from the way he judges other people. One of Holden’s favorite things to call people is, “phony.” He uttered the word countless times in the book, so much so that, to the reader, it loses its effect as a legitimate criticism. Holden uses the term “phony” not when something is necessarily fake, but when it fits its stereotype too well for his liking. For instance, the first time we hear Holden use the phrase is when his teacher calls his parents “grand.” Holden thinks, “Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.”(Salinger, 9) He is criticizing something as insignificant as the word “grand” because to Holden, adults just use that word when they have nothing else to say. While on the surface this appears to just be Holden passing judgment about the superficialness of people and things, but the word “phony” also highlights how entirely superficial Holden’s judgements are. Holden keeps himself busy with thinking about other people’s faults to distract himself from his own, and is often quite hypocritical. Many times in the novel, he insults other people’s intelligence and laziness. He does this while completely ignoring the fact that he himself has been kicked out of four prep schools because of his poor academics. Another unfair criticism Holden makes is when he sounds off on his roommate, Stradlater. Holden says that Stradlater is “phony” because he is always hooking up with girls that he barely knows or cares about. Later, Holden himself spends the better part of a dy trying to find a girl in New York City that he