“Phony”: The Catcher in the Rye

Phony is a word that describes a person or situation that is false or fake. Holden Caufield considers everyone around him as a phony. At Pency Prep he considers his fellow students as phonies because he thinks they all try to be something they are not. They are all playing a part and they aren't honest. He also criticises the motto of the school "molding boys into splendid, clear thinking young men"; Holden believes that any other school would do this sort of molding. He believes that the motto is phony because according to Holden there are no splendid and clear thinking young men at Pency.

In Holden's view movies are also phonies; though he enjoys them. He considers movies as phony because of their fake life style, fake emotions, and exaggerated drama which usually is far from reality.

Holden goes on a date with Sally, whom he sometimes considers a phony as well; one can observe this in chapter 15. Later in chapter 17, we find that Holden goes on a date with Sally Hays. The date is full of Holden's phony observations. He finds the actors in the play and also Sally's friend as phony.