According to Holden, the adult world is full of phoniness. Holden can look at adults and pick out their flaws that they are trying to cover up. He sees this and decides he wants no part of being an adult. However, when Holden is around older men and women, he tries to act like he is older. When he is talking to Mrs. Morrow on the train, he says, “Would you care for a cocktail? We can go in the club car. All right?” Holden knows that drinking an alcoholic beverage is an adult thing to do. He then goes on to sate with pride about his older looks. “and I have quite a bit of grey hair.” Holden seems to b

e caught up in the idea of drinking to fit in and look important. Even though if he saw someone else doing it, he would call them a phony right away, Holden feels like it is the correct thing to do when one is out and on their own.

Religion is thought of as a more mature topic. Holden holds his views on this. Throughout the book, he makes many remarks about Jesus and the Disciples: “Take the Disciples for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth.” He says that he feels this way because he is an atheist. However, he states that he believes in Jesus but not in the disciples. An atheist is one who does not believe in God. What Holden said completely contradicted itself. This is an example of how Holden tries to make adult decisions but is not quite ready for them.

The only person that Holden seems to really listen to and see as “true” and not phony is his sister, Phoebe. She even has to tell him a couple times about his swearing and he does not change. That is how habitual it is to him.

An example of Holden’ ability to lie is the scene with Mrs. Morrow. He carries on a long conversation with her. Finally it came around to why he was out of school already and her son, Ernie was not due home until Wednesday. Holden did not want to tell her the truth because that would ruin his moment with her. He told her that he has to have an operation. He could not just leave it as something simple. Holden just had to spice it up. He told Mrs. Morrow that he has a tumor on the brain and it was going to have to be removed.

The most prolific evidence of Holden’s phoniness comes from the way he lies to others. Holden is constantly lying to avoid telling the truth He talks about how he hates to be lied to, that people should tell him the truth yet he brags about his ability to lie and lie convincingly. At the start of chapter three, Holden admits about his lying. He says “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera.” These kinda of lies come from lying about things constantly. If is almost as though Holden gets a kick out of making up stories.

Some topics in this essay:
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