Marella, C.
ENG3U1
November 4, 2013
What Holden Hates Nitpicking is the epitome of the typical teenager as they are found to be so critical of ideas and use the word “hate” often. Salinger’s iconic creation, Holden Caulfield, recalls an eventful three day journey that demonstrates his strong opinions towards such natural flaws that apply to society in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. In his encounters with friends, family and strangers, Holden reveals to the reader about multiple things that he hates. Unavoidable occurrences draw his negative attention, which explains the numerous times he faces such experiences that he hates. All throughout the novel, it is clear that Holden hates his childhood; the division in society and …show more content…
All throughout the novel, Holden digresses about people he finds phony and the degree of hatred he has towards their phoniness. He talks about his older brother, DB, noting that he is a brilliant writer but hates that fact that he becomes a “prostitute” in Hollywood (2). Holden does not like that DB goes around looking like a big shot with his jaguar. He also does not like that DB wastes his talent in writing storylines for movies. This alludes to the next significant concept that Holden hates. Holden strongly dislikes movies in general and the people that love to see movies. He finds that movies are phony because it is just acting; the content of film is far from reality. Holden claims that people who enjoy movies are phony because they are just drawn to the superficial. Again, Holden demonstrates his hatred of phoniness through movies. The last aspect he hates about the phoniness of people is the arrogance and essence of superiority that is evoked. Holden explains that Pencey Prep “molds boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men who play polo” (2). However, he feels it is full of phoniness that Pencey is left with the idea that the school is full of polo players and hot shot students. In reality, no one plays polo and it is a standard school. Evidently, Holden demonstrates his hatred of phoniness through his numerous complaints and criticism of