Holden D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye

“I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful.” This quote comes from Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the award winning novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Many people claim to relate to Holden Caulfield because of how genuine he is with the reader. In spite of that, critics have continuously challenged the notion that Holden was a reliable narrator. Throughout the story Holden Caulfield demonstrates that he is not a reliable character because he is quick to lie, is hypocritical, and is mentally unstable.
First and foremost, Holden is an unreliable narrator partly because he is a pathological liar. The most important characteristic of a reliable narrator is trust worthiness. Holden has shown time and time again that he can be incapable of telling the truth. For example, Holden states, “I liked her, though. I was beginning to feel sort of sorry I'd told her my name was Rudolf Schmidt.” (Salinger Chapter 8) In this quote
Holden on numerous occasions does actions that contradict what he tells the reader. One example of this is when Ackley says, “‘Listen,’ he said, ‘if you're gonna smoke in the room, how 'bout going down to the can and do it?” to which Holden responds, “I went right on smoking like a madman. All I did was sort of turn over on my side and watched him cut his damn toenails...You were always watching somebody cut their damn toenails or squeeze their pimples or something.” (Chapter 6) This quote is explicit evidence of Holden’s hypocrisy. In this excerpt, Holden talks about Ackley’s lack of boundaries and disgusting hygiene, while Holden smokes in Ackley’s absent roommate's bed. Holden accuses Ackley of invasion of personal space, as Holden invades Ackley’s personal space. The irony of this scene is comical. Holden’s hypocrisy creates more distrust between himself and the reader. Consequently, this devastates any chance Holden has of being a reliable