. I mean theyre all right if they go around saving innocent guys lives all the time, and like that, but you dont do that kind of stuff if youre a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot-shot. How would you know you werent being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldnt (Salinger 172). When Holden describes his mom, he always seems to do so with a sense of compassion yet also with a jeering tone. Holden makes his mom sound predictable and insincere. These phony qualities are shown in two different examples when Holden is hiding in the closet of D.B.s room as his mom walks in to tuck in Phoebe: Hello! I heard old Phoebe say. I couldnt sleep. Did you have a good time? Marvelous, my mother said, but you could tell she didnt mean it. She doesnt enjoy herself much when she goes out. Good night. Go to sleep now. I have a splitting headache, my mother said. She gets headaches quite frequently. She really does (Salinger 177-178). The first two examples are excellent illustrations of how Holden classifies people as phonies. However, when it comes to Holdens older brother, D.B., more analysis is needed to derive Holdens true feelings about his brother. Holden seems to respect his older brother somewhat but cannot tolerate the imposed false image brought on by D.B.s career choice as a screen-play writer. For example, this sense of respect is shown when D.B. takes Holden and Phoebe to see Hamlet: "He treated us to lunch first, and then he took us. Hed already seen it, and the way he talked about it at lunch, I was anxious as hell to see it, too" (Salinger 117). Holden feels that all movies and shows are false, absurdly exaggerated portrayals of reality and subsequently because his brother takes part in these perversions of realism, he is a "phony." Hes in Hollywood. Thats isnt too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week endHes go...
