5 Paragragh Essay The Catcher In The

Rye Essay, Research Paper

From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word ?phony? to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who are?phony?, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden?s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character?s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character.

Illustrating Mr. Spencer as phony because of his vocabulary, is when Holden leaves Pencey Prep permanently, and goes to say good-bye to the ex-history teacher. The depicted fake tells the ex-Pencey student ?I had the privilege of meeting your mother and dad when they had their little chat with Dr. Thurmer some weeks ago. They?re grand people?. The ex-Pencey student immediately impugns Mr. Spencer?s use of the word ?grand?, and tells the reader: ?Grand. There?s a word I hate. It?s a phony. I could puke every time I heard it.? To sum up, Holden disgusts Mr. Spencer?s utilization of the word ?grand? and thinks it is fraudulent.

Also, Caufield, describes Ossenbuger as phony because of what Holden perceived he did for a living. The wing where the central character lived at Pencey was called the ?Ossenbuger Memorial Wing? named after a men who went to Pencey and later donated a substantial amount of money to the school. Ossenburger makes this income by the ?business of undertaking?. Next, according to our youthful character, Ossenburger is phony because ?he probably just shoves the dead bodies in a bag and throws them in the river?. As a result, Caufield feels that Ossenburger is phony because of his profession in undertaking.

While observing the discription of many other characters in the novel as phony, it is safe to say that the phony character is indeed the protagonist. For example, the false character when lying to Mr. Spencer about going to the gym to clear everything out before leaving, is Holden. Once again we see this falsehood, when he tries to hit on some women in a bar, despite thinking the girls are not particularly extraordinary women. Exemplifying this phony behavior as well, is when our puerile character is telling Sunny, (the prostitute) that after all, he could not do ?it? with her because of a ?broken spinal canal?. In summary, it is in fact hypocritical in the sense that Holden is the phony one, but just not anyone else.

In conclusion, our primary character implicates both Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger to be ?phony?, when on the other hand, the protagonist can certainly fit this description to its optimum eligibility. Our leading character explicates that Mr. Spencer is phony as soon as he says Holden?s parents are ?grand?. In Holden?s opinion on Ossenburger, he is phony because of his employment. Obviously, these characters stated above are not the phonies, the veritable phony is the protagonist because he is deceptive, and one may never know when one is regarding the genuine Holden Caufield. Holden should stop being so hypocritical and accept others for who they are in addition to accepting himself so he could stop all of the prevarication.