Holden Caulfield's View on Phonies

The biggest motif that appears in the Catcher in the Rye is the word phony. Holden's use of the word phony is used in many different ways throughout the novel. Holden uses it to describe people that are different than him, people he doesn't like, people that like things he doesn't like, or things that he doesn't enjoy. I think that Holden just calls people phonies from them acting different than him because he feels that everyone should act the way he does. If they don't act like him then then they are fake. This is pretty much everyone around Holden, except the people that he looks up to from them being intelligent or moving far in life. These people include his brother that died, Allie, his kid sister Phoebe, Mr. Antolini, his brother D.B., and his friend Jane Gallagher. I feel that Holden's use of phony is an excuse for him to stay the way he is and isolate himself from mostly everyone. I also feel that the author, J.D. Salinger is trying to show how someone can keep themself from ever moving on if they can't accept the people around them and they also can't accept themself if they do that.