Holden Caulfield Reliable Narrator

Imagine a person constantly lying to get through the world, lying to themselves just to keep themselves in a relatively good state of mind. But they don’t always realize it. Throughout the novel Catcher in the Rye, Holden, the narrator if the story, is one of those people. Holden will often believe that what he says is honest, but as the story progresses, readers can tell that not all that he mentions is all true. In J.D.Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s lies are to protect himself and others and keep himself out the wrong because he is worried about his own survival.

In chapter 7, the themes and motifs of lying/ deception, the plight of mental health, protection, isolation, and relationship/ interaction with others are overarching. Holden is a compulsive liar who tends to lie to protect himself from judgement of others and he also lies as a means of a comfort mechanism. For example, he lies to Ackley about what the fight was about between himself and Stradlater. He claims [he] was defending [his] goddam honor.” The reason he

Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas,

Holden is a cruel and manipulative teen who lies without thinking twice. Holden even lied to people even though there was no problem telling the truth. People like Holden are incredibly difficult to sympathize with. Especially if this person lies straight to your

In today's world people get irritated by people who are different from them. Readers can see this in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Holden suffers from depression and he has many different problem in his life that he has to deal with. Although Holden is a troubled boy who is trying to find where he fits in, readers see him as irritating because he is judgmental, immature and a hypocrite.

            Holden is quite skilled at citing exactly what is wrong with other people.  However he never acknowledges his own faults.  He was sure the entire world was out of step with him.  As Alan Stewart explains, ?Holden seemed to divide the world into two groups.  He was in one group, along with a few other people such as his little sister, Phoebe, and

The Catcher in the Rye is considered a classic, yet controversial novel which centers around a 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield. After being expelled from Pencey Prep due to his academic failure, Holden finds himself in situations that are caused by his gregarious behavior. Holden is a rather popular individual in literary fiction, and can be described as many things. But in my opinion, I believe Holden is a very ambivalent character, meaning that he has contradictory ideas about the people he socializes with and his environment.

Holden knows that he acts immature for his age. He admits it many times, and he knows he is a liar, also. “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful” (22, Salinger). I

Holden doesn't always lie for a reason sometimes he just is bored and alone so he says stuff to people to make them pay more attention to him“They kept asking me if I was sure I could afford it and all. I told them I had quite a bit of money with me.”{Fitzgerald 59} Holden really didn't have a reason to lie to the nuns , he was trying to be nice to give and help them because they were the only people who actually listened but he still ended up lying to them. Holden even says himself he doesnt really have reasons to lie he just lies to do it “Im the most teffric liar you ever saw , in your life”{Fitzgerald 16}. He cant stop lying he just does it because he's bored.

An unreliable character is an untrustworthy source of truth (Dictionary.com). Throughout the Catcher In The Rye, the narrator, Holden Caulfield takes the reader through his eyes on some events, informs us of some people in his life, and tells us a little about his past. As a narrative voice he makes it difficult for the reader to comprehend whether he is reliable or unreliable. There are some reasons however, that place him in the category of an unreliable narrative voice. For example, he is immature, constantly lying, and constantly contradicting himself. A reliable source on the other hand would be trustworthy, mature, and dependable. These are a few traits that J.D Salinger’s Holden Caulfield lacks.

Holden is deathly afraid of conforming, growing up, and having to assimilate into the phony adult world. As a result he comes off as hypocritical as he is the most prominent phony in the novel. He constantly lies, refuses to connect with others and overlooks his own pain, letting it deeply impact his life. Holden is a compulsive liar; he does not have one honest conversation with anyone except his sister and Jane for the duration of the novel. When he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, for instance, he claims his name is Rudolf Schmidt and preaches about what an amazing guy her son is, even though he is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school.” (61) This shows that Holden falls victim to the same social conventions as everyone else. He says exactly what Mrs. Morrow wants to hear, despite the fact that he

He also lies to basically everyone around him, he puts up a front so he wouldn’t have to show his real self and his vulnerability to other people. Holden also lies to himself because he is insecure, he does it to make himself feel better about him as a person and just generally the world. He also needs it to maintain his very altered sense of the world and human nature.”I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible” (pg.16). Here Holden even admits that he lies a lot and he describes it as “terrible”, but can't help himself when he finds himself in an situation he could get away from with lying. The thing that Holden doesn't fully understand is the fact that nobody wants to be his friend if he's just lying to them and treating them like

J.D. Salinger published Catcher in The Rye in 1951. The main protagonist in the novel, Holden Caulfield experiences many conflicts and predicaments. It is common for Holden to hold opinions on characters throughout the book. His opinionated nature shows that human interactions mean a lot to him. Holden generally likes genuine people opposed to phony people. The comparison of genuine and phony is shown throughout the novel, especially when Holden meets new people. His true personality is shown to the reader when we see whom he respects and despises.

In Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger creates a unique narration through the way Holden speaks. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger reveals the inner Holden Caufield through the style of Salinger's writing. Salinger writes the book as if Holden Caulfield speaks directly through the reader, like a kid telling a story to his friends. Like with most conversations, there is more to infer from not only the speaker says, but also how the speaker says it. In the book, readers can infer that Holden is much more than a cynical kid. In reality, he is "too affectionate" and "very emotional" (76), much like his little sister Phoebe.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was an overall easy read, with very few points of difficulty to any degree. I read the entire novel without encountering a problem with the prose, however, I did struggle through parts that I found irrelevant or stagnant in terms of plot. The most lagging parts of the narrative were the sections where Holden was alone for indeterminate periods of time, stumbling around New York with no real objective in mind. Holden was the driving factor behind why I struggled to progress through the book. I attribute this to the fact that the purpose of The Catcher in the Rye was for Salinger to present Holden, a character designed to be a not-so-great person yet also relatable, and turn him into a mirror for the reader, hoping that they might recognize flaws in themselves after recognizing those same flaws in Holden. Unfortunately for me, I missed out on this part of the experience, as I didn’t find Holden to be very relatable.