Holden Caulfield Honesty

” The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger is a notable classic among english literature. This tale of a mentally unstable young man by the name of Holden Caulfield going through a journey to find his purpose. Something that many people with his condition tend to search for. We are told this tale though his own eyes, his side of the story and only his side only, it is a year later in what we can assume to be a psychiatric hospital. With all of this in mind, it can be questionable whether or not he is a honest and reliable narrator or not. As we go throughout the beginnings of this young man's journey, we see that he is first encountered with a woman when he is trying to take the subway. Instantly she catches his eye and they begin to chat. Instantly, he lies to her, saying how his name is Rudolf and not Holden. He admits to us that he does lie, and he even points out …show more content…
He tries and tries, but with anything it is hard for him. Holden tries to talk to a taxi driver saying,” You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That Lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets frozen over?...” (Salinger 67). An odd thing to ask a random stranger who probably does not know about these ducks. However, when he lies to the woman on the subway. He lies to her face and has a massive conversation. Not just a conversation, but one that makes the woman happy because Holden had gone to school with her son, Ernest. He tells her ” It took everybody quite a long time to get to know him. He's a funny guy. A strange guy, in lots of ways-know what I mean? Like when I first met him...But he isn't. Jes just got this very original personality that takes you a little while to get to know him” ( Salinger 63). When in reality he tells the truth to the readers that Ernest is really ” about as sensitive as a … toilet seat” (Salinger