In saying this however, Holden is often recognised as a phony himself such as when he gives himself the identity of Rudolf Shmidt on the train or when he refuses sexual opportunities despite always thinking, questioning and desiring sex e.g. lying to Sunny the prostitute about having a “clavichord injury” to avoid having sex. He also contradicts himself by having a strong desire for innocence and an immature mind, yet undertakes adult activities e.g. drinking & smoking. * Through his personal insecurities and rough past (such Allie’s death, flunking a number of schools and losing valued relationships) Holden explores self hatred/disappointment and in turn presents a phony persona to hide his flaws.
He explains that adults are inevitably phonies, and, what’s worse, they can’t see their own phoniness. Phoniness, for Holden, stands as an emblem of everything that’s wrong in the world around him and provides an excuse for him to withdraw into his cynical isolation, a defense mechanism to help him deal with his loneliness. Holden expends much of his energy searching for phoniness in others, yet at the same time, while he is a self-admitted compulsive liar, he never acknowledges his own phoniness. This is not only ironic, but hypocritical, since phoniness is what Holden claims to detest more than anything else in the world. Holden is further hypocritical because while decrying the abhorrent nature of adulthood, he spends much of his energy trying to behave like an adult, as evidenced by his actions such as hiring a prostitute, spending money
However, the fact that the adult society sees through his façade reinforces Holden's alienation from his society. In effect, Holden retaliates by rejecting adulthood and continues to criticize its flaws as he indulges in them. He passes judgment quickly on those that he feels are corrupt and calls them "phony." This only further worsens Holden's situation and even further detaches him from society and help. But how did such a vicious cycle of self-destruction start?
An obvious thing they have in common is a dislike for one another that is stemmed from their ‘political rivalry’. These examples caused conflict that made their differences stand out even more. The boys being in the same age category and sharing a couple of views on living strategies didn’t cover up just how diverse they were. The first difference between them was how Jack had no respect for the rules the other boys agreed on. As the novel progressed Jack became more savage and in-humane while Ralph tried to keep the innocence he’ll never get back.
Except in his world, this is all highly illegal. Guy can’t stand around congratulating himself for being an individual. In his mind, he’s a traitor. Even worse, he’s a fireman traitor, which is essentially tantamount to being a dirty cop. When you look at it from Guy’s perspective, it’s no wonder he basically bounces from one personal crisis to the next for most of the novel.
As he says "If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it" and this shows his anger. Being hated has made him seem cruel, but also he sees himself as less important human. He says to Lennie "You got no right to come in my room.....You go on get outa my room. I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain't wanted in my room." This also shows he built up anger and shouted at Lennie because he is a ‘easy target’.
James hated this, because Ron is a terrible father, and even thought him and Lauren didn’t act like they liked each other, James loved her, and didn’t want to be apart from her. While in the foster home, James gets mixed up with a group of bad people, who make him go steal beer, but hold the door shut when James tries to run out. James ends up getting caught, and getting in trouble with the law. Sometime later, James just woke up, in a strange place. He had no clue where he was, and how he had got there.
He is also a hypocritical narrator, he continuously mentions how he hates movies yet he often watches them or talks of ones he has seen. 'I hate the movies like poison, but I get a bang imitating them.' Due to this ever evident hypocrisy and contrast the reader quickly learns that Holden is very disillusioned.
Throughout the text Holden continually isolates himself personally, mentally, and socially. He does this by alienating, judging, and observing others and himself. If he would stop over thinking everything and just bring himself to be around others he could end his isolation easily, but instead he chooses to further pull himself away, and alienate himself. Holden admits he’s depressed at some points, which is not a good feeling, and it’s caused by his
The novel Lord of the Flies portrays an imbalance of power between characters, like Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Throughout the novel, Jack and Ralph are constantly against Piggy because they believe they have a greater sense of authority. Piggy genuinely tries to help and give ideas but is always shut down because of the great imbalance of power between the boys. Jack additionally has no regard for Piggy's entitlement to speak and his tribe feels that anything Piggy says is humorous; they ponder "what amusing thing he may need to say.” Bullies most often tend to pick on the weaker children with poor self esteem or no way of defending themselves, thereby giving themselves more