Holden and His "Phony" Family The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people throughout J.D. Salingers novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably none have as much impact on him as certain members of his immediate family. The ways Holden acts around or reacts to the various members of his family give the reader a direct view of Holdens philosophy surrounding each member. How do Holdens different opinions of his family compare and do his views constitute enough merit to be deemed truth? Holden makes reference to the word "phony" forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73). Each time he seems to be referring to the subject of this metaphor as -- someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has manifestations of conformity (Corbett 71). Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about or to each gives you some idea of whether he thinks they are "phony" or normal. A few of his accounts make it more obvious than others to discover how he classifies each family member. From the very first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and generalizes both his father and mother frequently throughout his chronicle. One example is: "my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything personal about them. Theyre quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. Theyre nice and all Im not saying that but theyre also touchy as hell" (Salinger 1). Holdens father is a lawyer and therefore he considers him "phony" because he views his fathers occupation unswervingly as a parallel of his fathers personality. For example, when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wants to be when he grows up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion about their fathers occupation.. Lawyers are all right, I guess but it doesnt appeal to me, I said...
