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Hypocricy vs. Morality in The Catcher and the Rye

 

            In many instances Holden is simultaneously contradicting himself. He is both a hypocrite and a moralist. A part of him is condemns society for its corruptness yet he plays a part in the same materialistic crookedness. For example at the end of Chapter 15 he meets two nuns and all he focuses on are how displeasing they"re suitcases are. "I hate it when somebody has cheap suitcases. It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get to hate somebody just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases." (109) Holden is bothered by the fact that the nuns aren't wealthy and don't have enough money to buy a nice suitcase, even feels pity for them. This is a contradiction to later in the story when he talks to Sally about the boys at Pency being "full of phonies and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques." (131) When Holden speaks to Sally he tries to be a moralist by seeing wealth as a fabrication made by society to divide and corrupt people into classes that wouldn't otherwise be there. The conflict is that Holden first places significance upon wealth and then is disgusted by it. Being materialistic is part of being Holden's character, he goes to an expensive private school, he gets tons of money sent to him by his grandma. He is stuck in the same "phony" world that he so strongly deplores and even he knows it when he says, "Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell." (113).
            


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