Many Sections of The Catcher in the Rye exemplify Holden’s utter distaste for the “perfect” American world that his parents and friends encourage him to accept; however, Holden wastes no time acquainting the reader with the term “phony,” his all-encompassing term for the fake society surrounding him. His overuse of the term is his way to express the shallowness and fakeness that he is convinced is surrounding him in the post-war, 1950’s era. In Holden’s opinion, phoniness represents a form of reasoning for everything that is wrong in the world around him. On the very first page of the novel, Holden decides that “Where I want to start telling is the day I left Pencey Prep” (Salinger 1). The school is one that “you probably heard of” (Salinger 2), indicating Holden’s familial class status, even though he makes it perfectly clear that Pencey Prep does not deserve its so-called fame. Holden argues the image it promotes and encourages is “strictly for the birds” (Salinger 3), meaning it is fake and would impress only the gullible, and certainly it would not impress Holden himself. This scene raises one of the novel’s key themes, and my largest argument of the novel: Holden's rebellion from the phony that is in his mind, the dishonesty and superficiality of the common American adult and family. Further, in Chapter 2 …show more content…
It is important to note that Holden has been given the opportunity to attend one private school after another, and he makes it painfully obvious that he has no interest in attending these prestigious schools, let alone appreciating the opportunity that his parents are giving him. Achieving the 1950’s American Dream consisted largely of getting an education and having a family, two things that Holden has been given by his parents, but none the less sees as phony and useless to