Weblog Entry 13: Holden the Hypocrite (#3e)

It is very obvious that Holden Caulfield is very critical of others in the book Catcher in the Rye. In all of his observations of his peers and those around him, he always seems to put people in a sort of a negative connotation. Whether they are "phony," unhygienic, or just plain stupid to him, there just always seems to be something fundamentally wrong with one's character in Holden's perspective. However, Holden is not the ideal human being either. Although his tone in the story seems to assert himself as the only genuine character in the novel, this is not the case. Unbeknownst to him, there are many flaws in his character. For instance, one of the main problems with him all throughout the novel is that he is not a good communicator. Take for instance the scene in which he has a huge fight with Stradlater. Although it is obvious that Holden was deeply offended by Stradlater’s lack of integrity and honesty with him, he never actually declared that to Stradlater and hit him anyway. This clearly demonstrates how Holden’s lack of communication is not only a flaw, but a hypocritical one too, as he always criticizes others for not showing their genuine character, yet he does not exhibit his. Another hypocritical flaw that Holden struggles with throughout the entire story is his dishonesty, or lying problem. Holden hates when others lie to others about their personalities and such, but Holden does the exact same to people on a daily basis. For instance, throughout his entire ordeal in New York, he seldom gives away his true identity to the people he encounters. Some great examples of this are when he is trying to coax others into letting him order alcoholic beverages. He drastically lowers his voice and try’s to talk in a quick, yet suave accent. Many times in the story he blames other for altering their personalities for their own personal gains, but Holden is no different.