The Catcher In the Rye
...phony. Holden is truly a nice kid, and is absolutely not a phony. Another example showing that Holden is not a phony is shown in chapter 19. While waiting in the Wicker Bar to meet old Luce, Holden watches all the people there, and criticizes them for being so phony. “Then when she was all done whispering and being cute as hell, she’d sing some dopey song, half in English and half in French, and drive all the phonies in the place mad with joy. If you sat around there long enough and heard all the phonies applauding and all, you got to hate everybody in the world, I swear you did.”(Ch.19, P. 142) Here, Holden shows that he is not being a phony by his definition, for he does not applaud for the girls like all the other phonies do. When he says that you can hate everybody in the world from just being there he is right. If you just listen to today’s society and all the phonies out there, you really can get to hate everybody just by the things they say or the way they look. Chapter 12 again shows that Holden is not a phony. Holden shows up at Ernie’s, a bar where Ernie plays the piano, and walks in. While waiting for a table, Holden observes the people in the bar, and the over-exaggerated skill of Ernie the piano player. “Anyway, when he was finished, and everybody was clapping their heads off, old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific piano player. It was very phony-I mean him being such a snob and all.” Here, while everybody is clapping for Ernie, Holden is sitting there hating him for being such a snob. He thinks that everyone there is a phony for going crazy over something that is no big deal. Since he is not acting like the other phonies in the bar, he is obviously not a phony. Holden not being a phony is shown again in chapter 25. ...