Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he classifies each family member.

From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently t

mother said. She gets headaches quite frequently. She really does

‘You can’t even think of one thing.’ ‘Yes, I can. Yes, I can.’ ‘Well, do it, then.’ ‘I like Allie,’ I said. ‘And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff’ (Salinger 171).

The first two examples are excellent illustrations of how Holden classifies people as phonies. However, when it comes to Holden’s older brother, D.B., more analysis is needed to derive Holden’s true feelings about his brother. Holden seems to respect his older brother somewhat but cannot tolerate the imposed false image brought on by D.B.’s career choice as a screen-play writer. For example, this sense of respect is shown when D.B. takes Holden and Phoebe to see Hamlet: "He treated us to lunch first, and then he took us. He’d already seen it, and the way he talked about it at lunch, I was anxious as hell to see it, too" (Salinger 117). Holden feels that all movies and shows are false, absurdly exaggerated portrayals of reality and subsequently because his brother takes part in these perversions of realism, he is a "phony." He’s in Hollywood. That’s isn’t too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end…He’s got a lot of dough, now. He

‘Marvelous,’ my mother said, but you could tell she didn’t mean it.

Some topics in this essay:
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