Up to chapter 16 in The Catcher in the Rye we have been shown many times that Holden both hates people that he considers phony and that he loves people that he considers to be “real”. Holden considers himself real and takes it upon himself to protect the other people that he considers to be real. However I do not think that he is really as real as he sees himself.
If he was actually a real person why would he not tell the phonies what he thinks of them? Outwardly he acts as if he does not have any of these feelings and ideas about all of the phonies around him. Doesn’t that make Holden phony as well because he changes who he is as a person. Also the fact that he constantly lies to the people around him about unimportant things when there is no reason to tell the lies at all. For example when he wanted to leave Mr. Spencer’s house there was really no need to lie about going to get his stuff. He could have just asked to leave. Then an even better example is with Mrs. Morrow, there is no reason for him to have lied to her he could have just said nothing to her and been on his merry way but he decided to make stuff up for his own enjoyment. These are two reasons that in my opinion make Holden himself is extremely phony.
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