Holden Caulfield Phony Analysis

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In The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield isolates himself from everything and everyone. Holden encounters many people throughout the book but he pushes them away, he does not go to certain places because he wants to isolate himself from people who are “phony” which is why he did not go the football game at his school “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall. The game with Saxon Hall was supposed to be a very big deal around Pencey. It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win. I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill…” (Salinger, pg. 4). In this passage the last time he went to a game was last season, he was sitting on a hill watching from a far with no one around and all alone. …show more content…
I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.” (Salinger, pg. 44). Holden tries to make friends while at the same time isolating himself, another reason why he is isolating himself and calling everyone “phony” is because he is in his own little world wanting to be the catcher in the rye, he wants to save other children because he could not save Allie. He also isolates himself from people who talk to him in a bad way, he does not want to converse with people and prefers to be secluded, like when Holden had a bad conversation with the taxi driver he walked himself back to his hotel “I walked all the way back to the hotel. Forty-one gorgeous blocks. I didn't do it because I felt like walking or anything. It was more because I didn't feel like getting in and out of another taxicab” (Salinger, pg. 98). Having all these isolations constricted Holden from attaining the American Dream, he could not let himself get involved with anyone or anything due to finding faults in everyone around him and not letting himself get over his brother’s
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