The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger takes place in Pennsylvania. The main character, Holden, is sixteen and has just been kicked out of the boarding school Pencey, which is where Stradlater and Ackley, Holden’s roomates, also go. Holden’s intelligent and loved brother, Allie, died from leukemia; his death brings on a lot of anxiety and stress in Holden’s life. Holden reveals his stress and anxiety when he runs into a student’s mother on the train, as he starts lying a lot. This is why Holden has a habit of lying and expresses a great deal of anxiety and stress by the use of lies, flashbacks, hyperbole and repetition. Salinger uses flashback to describe how Holden felt about his brother, Allie, before he died. Holden remembers when Allie …show more content…
Holden had just gotten into a fight with Stradlater and Ackley is curious to know why, so Holden lies and says, “‘What the hell was the fight about any how?’ Ackley said, for about the fiftieth time. He certainly was a bore about that. ‘About you,’ I said ‘About me for chrissake?’ ‘Yeah i was defending your goddam honor’” (54). Holden was lying about the fight being about Ackley. Holden felt the need to lie to Ackley when it was completely unnecessary. This reveals Holden’s character because lying became Holden’s second nature of communicating and he doesn’t even realize when he is doing it. It's not that Ackley deserved to be lied to, Holden just felt the need to do it anyways. Along with Holden’s lying, Salinger also uses hyperbole while talking to a women he just met about a boy who went to school with Holden. In the text it says, “Then i start shooting the old crap around a little bit… I nodded ‘That's Ernie. He wouldn't. That's the one fault with him- he's too shy and modest’” (62-64). Holden created a front with a random stranger like he had to prove something while talking to her. Instead of telling the woman the truth about her son, he exaggerated and said he was an amazing person who’s, “‘One of the most popular boys at Pencey’” (63). He got a kick out of the lady’s reaction and decided to roll with