8. What sort of conflict does Holden deal with in terms of the society?

Holden faces many conflicts with society, the most substantial being his inability to integrate with culture because of his strong personal views on people. Holden dislikes phonies and is very quick to label someone as a phony even while barely knowing them. Holden dislikes complex and unpredictable situations and since the society is filled with them, Holden isolates himself. Holden finds solace in constant ideas. He dreams of a world which is frozen, silent, predictable, and unchanging. A possible reason that Holden isolates himself so much is because he’s afraid of an unpredicted change resulting in the loss of a loved one, for example what happened with Allie. When Holden looks through Phoebe’s papers while she is sleeping, Holden spends the time projecting his own idealizations of what childhood should be like upon her. He believes childhood to be joyous and full of curiosity, while he sees the world of adults to be hypocritical and superficial. It isn’t until Holden sees his child sister, Phoebe, acting more like an adult than he that he finally tries to eliminate his rash views on society.