The Catcher In The Rye Phony Analysis

There are roughly about 7 billion people in the world, and yet many of our youth often find themselves adrift from those surrounding them whether they be friends, family, or the entire population in general. They struggle to find their identity and a place in society where they can feel they belong. This is the case with Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger's main character in the book The Catcher In the Rye, a adolescent boy conflicted with his own feelings of isolation and alienation. This is made apparent by his lack of friends, his attempts to be accepted by others, and his longing for his dead older brother.
In Holden’s eyes, everyone is either “corny” or “phony”. He perceives a person to be this way if they do not act naturally and follow
other people's manners and grace. Holden dislikes “phonies” and thinks of them as people who try to be something they are not. He loathes people who show off because it seems unnatural every time they do not act like themselves. Holden does not allow himself to have any friendships because of his dull attitude and personality. At the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Holden is lonely when he separates himself from the rest of the Pencey students by watching the football game from Thomsen Hill and not the grandstands up close. Holden is not a very social person partly because he finds himself better than many others. He dislikes his roommate Stradlater because of his generic leather luggage. His next door roommate Ackley does not seem to want a friendship with him either. Holden finds Ackley's zit crusted face ridiculous and doesn’t want him in his room at first. This shows the reader that Holden is a lonely person because he chooses to be lonely and does not want anything to do with people who do not fit into his perception of normal.
Throughout the book, Holden is presented as a failure who struggles to stay in at least one of the four schools he's been kicked out of.
This can reflect that Holden can't manage to get by in life. Throughout the book, it is evident that Holden is running from so many things such as growing up, reality and people who are “phonies” as mentioned earlier. It seems that Holden is confused and trapped in memories from the past, that he is dealing with loneliness and isolates himself as a form of protection.“[…]I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz […] but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My brother D.B. was in Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe […] was out. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz […]. Then I thought of calling this girl […] Sally Hayes. […] I thought of calling […] Carl Luce. […] So I ended up not calling anybody[…]” (9.1 Salinger) This quote from the novel is just another major example of how Caulfield has only ruined his chances of having any friends or simply someone to converse with. The sad reality is, he tries so hard to protect himself from the harsh cruelties of the world but has only created a barrier between himself and the world as a defensive mechanism which only promotes his isolated state of mind. Because Holden can’t seem to get any sort of company he only gets more and more depressed with time. “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was
crying and all. I don't know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome. Then, when I went out to the checkroom […] the hat-check girl was very nice. […] I sort of tried to make a date with her. […] She said she was old enough to be my mother and all.” (20.37 Salinger) Holden keeps tying together the words "depressed" and "lonesome," suggesting that being lonely makes him depressed. Notice how, once again, he tries to reach out to anyone around him.
From the details provided in the The Catcher In the Rye it is not difficult to conclude that Caulfield’s mental status has been affected due to his lonesome state.
In fact the following aspects support this conclusion that Holden began losing his mind: he lost his personal interests, he lost touch with many of his acquaintances and friends, and he is a compulsive
liar.
Overall, isolation is a battle between man vs self where loneliness, self doubt, and alienation take over and in many cases such as Holten Caulfield’s, can even impact your mental health.

Works Cited
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye, Little Brown and Company, 1951.