6. What is Holden’s inner conflict?

Holden’s inner conflict is the struggle of becoming a man and facing that fact the he is being a hypocrite and is in fact a phony himself. The reader can constantly find Holden telling lies, spending time with people he dislikes, and stating that he agrees with ideas which he doesn’t not. Holden not only defines the word “phony” as a person whom is not genuine, but also someone who is extremely typical. Holden is correct in the fact that there are many phonies throughout the story, but the point of the matter is that even though people are phony, the world will not live up to Holden’s idea of a straightforward “black and white” world. The idea of phoniness can be very harmful and hurtful, which is a lesson Mr. Antolini tries to teach Holden. Holden idolizes the idea of childhood and despises the adult world, he believes all adults are awfully phony. The story is a bildungsroman, which brings a great problem to Holden because how does one grow up if the very thought of it disgusts them?