The Cathcer In The Rye Essay, Research Paper

Holden Caulfield, by becoming the biggest phony of all, creates a fantasy world to protect himself from the reality that he can not face. This can be seen from the fact that he will not accept his brother’s death, refers to almost everyone as being a “phony,” and looks beyond the obvious.

Throughout the story Holden constantly refers back to his younger brother, Allie. Every time something significant happens Holden reminisces back to the time that Allie was still alive and tell us an anecdote about how smart Allie was or how Allie would have done it. This is a clear example that he can not accept the death of his brother, so he pretends that he is till alive, to take the pain away.

Holden calls everyone a phony, because they do not conform themselves to the way he thinks. Holden needs self-esteem so he likes to think of other people as being lesser that he is. When Holden leaves school and ventures out into the real world, he finds that most people are “phony,” and it drives him insane. In order for him to stay safe he must evaluate other people and make sure that he is better off then they are.

Holden never realizes that children were the ones who sprayed graffiti all over the museum, and that his sister understood the way he thought. To Holden all children were innocent and he felt that he had to protect that innocence, therefore Holden could not face the reality that not all children were innocent and some would vandalize property; to Holden bad things only happened to adults.

In conclusion, Holden’s refusal to accept what happens in life was the cause for him to be checked into a mental hospital. He had created a whole world for himself and could not break out of it himself. Without the help of his sister Phoebe, he would have eventually gone crazy.