![the catcher in the rye holden the catcher in the rye holden](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.1181741990.5584/fpp,small,lustre,wall_texture,product,750x1000.u1.jpg)
You know like making fun of the cool kids so it doesn’t hurt when they don’t invite you to their parties. We’re not psychoanalysts but here’s our take: if Holden calls everyone a phony, he can feel better when they reject him. He doesn't want to grow up and get a job and play golf and drink martinis and go to an office, and he certainly doesn't want anything to do with the "bastards" that do. Holden finds any semblance of normal adult life to be "phony." How phony? So phony that he uses the word 33 times-and trust us, that’s a lot of times to use a word like phony. Holden may want to make friends, but we’re not sure why: in his mind, everyone is a social-climber, a name-dropper, appearance-obsessed, a secret slob, a private flit (a.k.a gay), or a suck-up. Scratch that: like a cute little puppy with a really bad attitude. Despite his Judgy McJudgerson exterior, Holden just wants to make friends-like a cute little puppy who keeps on trying.
![the catcher in the rye holden the catcher in the rye holden](https://miro.medium.com/max/1080/0*rxfJTsvNd23n13GZ.jpg)
(We’re not so sure about his unconscious.). He doesn't seem to notice that he gets taken advantage of over and over and over again.
![the catcher in the rye holden the catcher in the rye holden](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.1215935697.4063/flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg)
Still, Holden never makes himself out to be a victim. He pays Sunny even though he doesn't have sex with her, and ends up getting cheated out of five more dollars (and socked in the stomach, although technically this, too, was for different reasons). He gets stuck with the tab for the three "moronic" girls' drinks in the Lavender Room at his hotel. He lends out up his hound's-tooth jacket, knowing it'll get stretched out in the shoulders. He even had to type that essay on a junky old typewriter because he had lent his own to the guy down the hall. He writes Stradlater's composition for him, and in return gets yelled at (and socked in the nose, but technically that was for different reasons). He invites Ackley along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. Take a look at just a handful of these encounters: On the other hand, judging by the interactions that he does have, we… can’t really blame him. Over and over again, he decides not to do something. (Like adults.) On the one hand, this is just Holden’s passivity. (9.1)Įvery time Holden thinks of someone to call, he ends up deciding not to-usually because he’s afraid he’ll have to interact with someone he doesn’t like. I came out of the booth, after about twenty minutes or so. Then I thought of calling up this guy that went to the Whooton School when I was there, Carl Luce, but I didn't like him much. Then I thought of calling this girl I used to go around with quite frequently, Sally Hayes, because I knew her Christmas vacation had started already-she'd written me this long, phony letter, inviting me over to help her trim the Christmas tree Christmas Eve and all- but I was afraid her mother'd answer the phone. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz, and find out when Jane's vacation started, but I didn't feel like it. My kid sister Phoebe goes to bed around nine o'clock- so I couldn't call her up. We’re going to quote the whole passage, because it’s worth it:Īs soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. The very first thing the does when he gets off the train in New York is go to a phone booth… and then he leaves twenty minutes later without having even picked up the receiver.
![the catcher in the rye holden the catcher in the rye holden](http://www.quotemaster.org/images/62/62d29fe0d47eac9b2e9b863633ee7c83.jpg)
No matter how many times Holden says he’s “lonesome” (it’s a lot), he often can’t even get to the point of reaching out at all. Standards so high that only a precocious fourth-grader can live up to them. The problem? All he wants to do is connect with someone- anyone-but the boy has high standards. We can’t make up our mind between feeling sorry for him and telling him to just get a grip already. (Click the character infographic to download.)