Chapters 1-5 — This Book Has a Lot of Phoniness to It

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” -Salinger

Hey y’all! As you can see, this post will be about chapters 1-5. I have read ahead a bit so I could get a more firm grasp on some of the main themes of the novel, that way it would be easier for me to present them to you.

One of the first characteristics we see in Holden is his need for excitement. Holden calls many things “boring,” including the details of his early life (3), people telling him to act his age (12), and picking up after Mr. Spencer (15). I think Holden’s constant state of boredom stems from the fact that he just doesn’t care. In fact, Holden is an expert at failing. Not only did he flunk out of Pencey, he mentions that he has been through six different schools. Also, it’s not like Holden is just bad at school – he fails his fencing team and doesn’t really care about it. The only thing he seems to show any interest in is English, which is also the only subject he’s passing.

Another characteristic that we notice early on is his hatred of Hollywood, or the media in general. We see two examples of this in chapters 1-5: the first when he describes his brother as a “prostitute” because he writes for Hollywood (3), and the second when he tries to bond with Mal and Ackley by going to a “lousy” movie (41). This hatred is most likely supported by the phoniness that is common in mainstream media, which leads to our next topic.

Holden loves to use the word “phony.” Some of the things Holden considers phony are Pencey Prep (4) and Elkton Hills (17), as well as the word “grand” (12) and Selma Thurmer’s dad (5). However, Holden is quite phony himself, given the fact that he’s an admitted liar and all (19). In fact, I will go as far to say that he’s a pathological liar. We will uncover that more as we read further into the book. For now, though, we can see how unreliable he is. For example, on page 18 Holden makes some very common excuses, saying he’s “just going through a phase;” however, on page 33 he is very clear about how he hates excuses. We can also see his unreliability on page 12 when he says that he acts young for his age and old for his age in the same paragraph. Finally, on page 7 Holden explains about how he’s currently in a “rest home,” but we can assume is is actually in some kind of asylum. We’ll look more on that as we continue into the novel.

Two of the biggest themes in the novel are loneliness and maturity. The theme of loneliness is introduced on pages 4-6 when he is standing on top of Thomsen Hill watching the game against Saxon Hall that practically everyone in the school is attending except him, along with when he is ostracized by his fencing team for leaving the equipment on the subway. As of right now, Holden doesn’t really realize his loneliness, but further into the novel he is very open with how he feels about it. Holden tries to bond and make friends, like Ackley and Stradlater, but it doesn’t really ever end well. The only person Holden seems to have a good relationship with at this point is Mr. Spencer. In my previous blog post, “Introduction to ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and Background Information on the Author,” I mentioned Holden’s fear of growing up. This theme isn’t very relevant at this point in the novel, but we’ll discover it as we move on in the novel. However, it is important to notice how he calls many of his acquaintances “old,” even the ones that are younger than him.

The final thing I would like to talk about is a couple of things that I know will be very important later on in the book, but aren’t very relevant yet. The first is the quote “Life is a game” (11). There hasn’t been much of a standpoint on this from Holden yet, but it is clear that he believes it isn’t a game, and he has argued about it with two people already. The second is the red hunting hat, which Holden refers to as his “people shooting hat” (26). Holden seems to put the hat on when he is in a situation that makes him aggravated or uncomfortable and take it off when he is back to himself again. So far this hat has only been mentioned on pages 21, 25-26, and 39, but it’ll be more relevant within the next few chapters. The final thing is the question is the question of where the ducks go when the lagoon freezes over. It doesn’t seem very important right now, but it will be later.

Stick around for more lit information. Talk to you later;)