A Phony Family Essay
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Mark Jason S. So March 1999
A 'Phony' Family
Each and every action the children performed in school and in any place is a reflection of the quality of life they have in their own homes. Parents have a responsibility of taking care of their children and parents have the influence and impact that creates the primary personality of an individual. This influence can mold a certain individual into a responsible citizen or a rebellious delinquent as perceived in J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye".
The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout novel, 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 and would likely explain his actions in the story. Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett, 1997). 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, 1997). 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. 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. 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.
"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, 1945).
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. She doesn't enjoy herself much when she goes out. …'Good night. Go to sleep now. I have a splitting headache,' my mother said. She gets headaches quite frequently. She really does (Salinger, 1945). The first two examples are excellent illustrations of how Holden classifies people as phonies. However, when it comes to Holden's older brother, D.B., more analysis is needed to derive Holden's true feelings about his brother. Holden seems to respect his older brother somewhat but cannot tolerate the imposed false...
Corbett, Edward P.J. "Raise High the Barriers, Censors." 1997Crispell, Diane. "The Sibling Syndrome".1992
Salinger, J.D. "The Catcher in the Rye". Little Brown and Company, Boston, USA. 19
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