Term Papers on Catcher In The Rye

Term Paper Title	Catcher In The Rye
# of Words	1313
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.25

Catcher in the Rye

                                     Holden and His "Phony" Family

                          The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people
                       throughout J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably
                      none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate
                     family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of
                         his family give the reader a direct view of Holden’s philosophy
                       surrounding each member. How do Holden’s different opinions of his
                      family compare and do his views constitute enough merit to be deemed
                                              truth?
                      Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times
                         throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be
                          referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who
                        discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has
                       manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in
                       the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his
                        family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of
                       whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts
                       make it more obvious than others to discover how he classifies each
                                          family member.
                        From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his
                      parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently
                       throughout his chronicle. One example is: "…my parents would have
                       about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them.
                        They’re quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father.
                       They’re nice and all – I’m not saying that – but they’re also touchy as
                         hell" (Salinger 1). Holden’s father is a lawyer and therefore he
                         considers him "phony" because he views his father’s occupation
                        unswervingly as a parallel of his father’s personality. For example,
                    when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wants to be when he grows
                      up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion
                                    about their father’s occupation..

                         ‘Lawyers are all right, I guess – but it doesn’t appeal to me,’ I
                         said. ‘I mean they’re all right if they go around saving innocent
                        guys’ lives all the time, and like that, but you don’t do that kind of
                        stuff if you’re a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play
                        golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a
                      hot-shot. How would you know you weren’t being a phony? The trouble
                                    is, you wouldn’t’ (Salinger 172).

                    When Holden describes his mom, he always seems to do so with a sense of
                      compassion yet also with a jeering tone. Holden makes his mom sound
                        predictable and insincere. These phony qualities are shown in two
                     different examples when Holden is hiding in the closet of D.B.’s room as
                                   his mom walks in to tuck in Phoebe:

                        ‘Hello!’ I heard old Phoebe say. ‘I couldn’t sleep. Did you have a
                                            good time?’
                        ‘Marvelous,’ my mother said, but you could tell she didn’t mean it.
         ...

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