3. Holden is constantly pointing out the phoniness and wickedness in people. Do you think he is being hypocritical when doing so?

Holden seems very hypocritical. He is constantly pointing out the phoniness and wickedness in people when he is a phony himself. He even admits so in the book. In the book Holden says "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible." (pg 16) Holden's actions often contradict his words, which makes him appear hypocritical. An example of this would be his red hunting hut. He said, "...I put on this hat that I'd bought this morning. It was one of those red hunting hats with one of those really, really long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddamn foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back-very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way." (pg17-18) Holden bought the hat knowing it would stand out, but always takes it off when he is in highly populated areas. Holden is trying to make himself appear as confident by wearing the hat but truly is not very confident at all. Another example of Holden's hypocriticalness is is attitude toward sex. Holden values innocence extremely ("catcher in the rye" metaphor), but he spends a lot of time in the novel thinking about sex and trying to lose his virginity, which would be a loss of innocence. Although Holden seems hypocritical, there may other reasons why he acts this way. Holden could be suffering from mental illness as a result of the death of his brother, Allie. Because of this tragic event, Holden has become traumatized and has lost his innocence, as is now trying to protect innocence in society. Holden comes off as a hypocrite but he may just have ideas about what society should be like and just can't live up to these expectations himself, because of the traumatization from his brother's death.