Holden Caulfield Lies

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“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”-Ernest Hemingway. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is about a young man named Holden Caulfield, who got kicked out of his old school, Pencey Prep. He roams around in New York during the 1950s and experiences new events before he goes home. His family is not close and is suffering from a tragic death of Holden’s brother, Allie. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger shows the importance of trust through Holden, the protagonist, and important to many young innocent kids that can relate to Holden by the definition of phoniness, Holden Caulfield's lies, and his relationship with adults. Salinger develops the theme of trust by focusing on Holden’s definition of phoniness. …show more content…
Holden does not have a care for or like adults very well. An example, Holden calls each adult throughout the whole book, “The way she asked me, I knew right away old spencer’d told her i'd been kicked out(Salinger 8).” The lack of relationships with adults including his parents has an effect on Holden and with a relationship of an adult, the adult may help him and give him the guidance he needs. For example, Holden cannot not speak to his mom because if she finds out he got kicked out, she might react very hysterical ,and his father is not present(Salinger 78). Holden tries to trust an adult, but he is taken advantage and the person he trusted tried to sexually abuse him. For example, he trusted Mr. Antolini, his former teacher, by going to his house before he has to go home. Holden woke up with Mr. Antolini touching his head when he was asleep. The author presents the theme of trust with the relationship of adults.
Salinger bestows the theme of trust for Holden by focusing on his definition of phoniness, his lies, and his relationship with adults. Holden deeply believes in trust and throughout the story he tries to trust strangers. Although they break his trust and he lies to many. Holden and many young kids in today's world need to trust to stay sound and live a happy life. Holden needed help that he was not getting from the death of his brother. Which might have caused him to get kicked out of schools and wandering around looking for
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