"Ask her if she still keeps her Kings in the back row"

"You've got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend
When I was down you just stood there grinnin'
You've got a lotta nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on the side that's winnin' ...

You see me on the street, you always act surprised
You say 'how are you?', 'good luck', but ya don't mean it
When you know as well as me, you'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once and scream it ...

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you"

                                        ( "Positively 4th Street" - Bob Dylan )

         Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye" features the word "phony", as part of the main character Holden Caulfield's narration, no less than forty-six times. It is highlighted here, along with a lyric on the same lines, to present the mindset of  the individual that carry this novel. For example following are his thoughts upon seeing a certain piano player, upon the latter's performance in a bar, in which the former had no business to be in, in the first place. 

"Anyway, when he was finished, and everybody was  clapping their heads off, old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific piano player. It was very phony--I mean him being such a big snob and all. In a funny way, though, I felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. I don't even think he knows any more when he's playing right or not. It isn't all his fault. I partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off--they'd foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance. " 

On another instance he meets this "Navy guy", with a girl his brother used to date:

"The Navy guy and I told each other we were glad to've met each other. Which always kills me. I'm always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though."

 

Holden, postpones going home, after his latest expulsion from a school, and the novel is but the 3-4 days within that period, prior to his going home. We come across an exhaustive account of the sixteen year old's mindset, as he talks about his dormitory friends, his feelings towards his crushes, what he considers as genuine, and the huge numbers of people he terms as "phonies". Thus we are presented through a first person narration, of an adolescent trying to find his place in a world, that he finds somewhat difficult to adjust. We find that he has two kinds of people he appreciates - those who stood their ground for what they believed and those who has time for him. A school mate who jumps to death rather than going back on his stand, represents the former category, while his siblings (including one that has passed away),  and a teacher who has time for him come under the latter one.

This is a narration about a youth, who finds growing up a challenge. He misses home, through his siblings, but not necessarily his parents, who mayn't have had time for him. He finds many things to be pretensions, and abhors it. Yet, as in the above quote, where he meets this Navy man, and owns that "if you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff". It is not that he cannot understand the niceties and the role they purpose either, as that quote shows.

The novel ends with the slightest indication of hope, hinting that he works it out. It was finally his sibling's  attachment which worked for him, despite some solid, almost "beyond his age" advice that he gets from a caring teacher.

The beauty and depth of the novel is in the fact that the whole narration is, from the mindset of the sixteen year old  Holden. The memory of his deceased brother haunts him, no end. 

"In the first place, I certainly don't enjoy seeing him in that crazy cemetery. Surrounded by dead guys and tombstones and all. It wasn't too bad when the sun was out, but twice--twice-- we were there when it started to rain. It was awful. It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place. All the visitors that were visiting the cemetery started running like hell over to their cars. That's what nearly drove me crazy. All the visitors could get in their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner--everybody except Allie. I couldn't stand it. I know it's only his body and all that's in the cemetery, and his soul's in Heaven and all that crap, but I couldn't stand it anyway. I just wish he wasn't there."

The death of his kid brother is probably at  the root of his mental state. The confused mind that doesn't know what he should be doing next , is presented in all it's perplexity and muddle headedness.

I suspect that this book may not be everybody's cup of tea.  But I found it in relation to other American novels (e.g. Saul Bellow's "The Adventures of Augie March" and to a lesser extent to Donna Tartt's "The Gold Finch" ). While Bellow presents Augie for a longer period of time through his narration - possibly a decade or so - we see Holden for just a couple of days. I felt that the only way to have a close up with the character of Holden was to have it limited in time span, such as here.  In essence Salinger has created a character that will be etched in the reader's mind for a long, long time.