Holden Caulfield Phony

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In J.D. In “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caulfield is not just a naive and rambunctious teenager, but overall an unreliable narrator of the novel. This idea is represented through Holden’s perspective on life, as well as his mental illness. This belief is shared by literary critic and author Susan K. Mitchell, as she explains that Holden’s view on society being “phony” would make Holden a phony as well. She writes that “Holden is an unreliable narrator not only because he is a self-proclaimed liar but also because he perceives reality in a simplistic way” (26). Holden continuously calls everyone in his life phony, explaining that most people are fake and cannot be trusted. In doing this, Holden overlooks his own phoniness and hypocritical
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