Holden Loves the Phonies

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye introduces the reader to a new aspect of characters, phony people or phony actions. The word phony seems to be one of Holden's favorite words, although according to him he has "a lousy vocabulary"(9) so it could also be that he just does not know any better words to use. In The Catcher in the Rye the word phony or some variation of the word appears about forty-six times throughout the novel. Therefore, there is a call for special attention any time the word phony is applied to a character more than once. To understand Holden it is necessary to take a closer look at those characters it will become more clear what a phony is, which characters qualify as being phony, and why Holden responds to them the way he does.

It is obvious by Holden's contempt for the characters he labels as phony that being one is not a good thing. Holden's headmaster at Elkton Hills talks easily with good looking parents for extended periods of time, but the unattractive parents receive from him a handshake and "a phony smile" (14) before he moved on to the next set of parents. The headmaster obviously was forcing a smile so as not to be rude, but was clearly turned off by unattractive people. So being a phony really has to do with acting in a way that is contrary to the character's nature. Not only that but this false personality benefits the character in some way. The headmaster, for instance, not only avoids complaints about his treatment of the parents, but the parents will probably tell their friends what a great headmaster he is and how their friends should send their children to his school, raising enrollment. This definition of phony is unique to this novel as the character is unique.

Acts of phony-ness fall along the same lines of the characters nature. A phony act is anything that does not fit the character. An example of this would be when Holden says he should have given Faith Cavendish "a phony name" (65) he means any name other than the one that belonged to him. The problem with a character doing things that are phony is that it creates for other characters false notions about the character, notions that would be different if they knew the truth. Maurice's "phony shirt collar"(102) had created the illusion that Maurice was the type of guy who is respectable and would buy a shirt that he would have to maintain, which is not the type of guy Maurice is at all. Instead Maurice is a pimp who desires to maintain an appearance as he solicits work for his girls.

Of all the people Holden claims is a phony, Sally stands out among the crowd. Holden does not like Sally, he tells the reader this multiple times. Holden even calls her the "queen of the phonies"(116) which can only mean she is the phoniest person he has ever met. Holden detests the way Sally likes to go see shows and says words like grand. The invitation to trim Sally's Christmas tree shows how she is phony. While it is nice of her to invite Holden to this activity, it really was not very important to Sally who it was that trimmed her tree with her. When Sally asks at the skating rink if he is coming and says, "I have to know" (130) while looking around the room it becomes evident that Sally already has a number of other guys she could ask to trim her tree with her, she just needs time to invite them before it is too late and everybody has plans. But Sally does not just say this to Holden, she simply berates him with the same question about his attending the event. Holden knows she is a phony, and yet, Sally is the one Holden calls for a date.

In understanding Holden as a character it is important to look at the way Holden deals with the phonies he encounters. Holden does not like any of these characters, and yet he seems to seek most of them out at some point. He calls Sally for a date even though he can barely stand her. He calls up Carl Luce for a drink even though at one point he called him a "fat assed phony"(137). Holden goes out to bars, like the Wicker Bar, where there are many phony people and stays for hours. Holden says that at his old school he was "surrounded by phonies"(13) yet he did not have a problem going to see a movie with a couple of those boys or lending them his typewriter. Even though Holden dislikes pretty much everyone he discusses from this experience, at the end of the novel he says, "I sort of miss everybody I told about"(214). It would seem as though these contradictory feelings and actions would make Holden the biggest phony of them all. However, if being a phony means acting in a way that is contradictory to a character's nature, than Holden is not a phony because, as we learn throughout the novel, Holden is crazy. Holden is consistent with his sporadic behavior throughout the novel. He goes from loving characters to thinking he hates them in short periods of time. These are pretty opposite extremes and show us how unbalanced Holden really is.

Holden's experiences with these phonies over the few days he is in New York City has a deep impact on Holden. It was their reactions to Holden that drove him to do the things he did, like running away to the city to begin with. By understanding why and how Holden characterizes certain characters as being phony it becomes evident why Holden reacts to phonies the way he does and a better understanding of the novel as a whole is achieved.