Analysing Holden Caulfield through the Psychology of Lying

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Introduction to Holden’s Pathological Lying

Everyone has their own opinion on Holden Caulfield and his excessive lying problem, but why does Holden truly lie so often? What is the psychology behind his lies? Holden Caulfield, from The Catcher in the Rye, introduces the reader to his life and to his current psychological state. Overtime, he makes it quite obvious that he is in a downward spiral that may not end well for him. He has been depressed and lonesome for quite some time, and he has no one he feels he can turn to. Early on, Holden states that he has always been an amazing liar and that it comes as a second nature to him. But, throughout his downward spiral, it is obvious that his lying becomes much more frequent. He continues to lie to everyone around him, but he fails to mention why he has such an obsession with doing so. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield has become a pathological liar as a means to cope with the traumatic events that have occurred throughout his life, and to distract from his own inferiority.

Lying as a Mask: Hiding Inferiority and Insecurity

Holden lies for many of his own pathological reasons, but one factor that contributes to his lying, is the constant need for everyone to perceive him as a better person than he has proved to be. Many personality traits, such as self- confidence, have been associated with a person’s skill level of lying when put under pressure. Holden is very insecure in himself and feels inferior to others, so he worries exceedingly about how others will/do view him. When Holden finally decides to go home after getting kicked out of Pencey Prep, he is sitting on his sister Phoebe’s bed, and she asks him why he got kicked out of yet another school. She is disappointed in his actions, so to change the way she is viewing him, Holden lies to her about his reasoning. Holden begins to lie to Phoebe by saying, “A million reasons why. It was the worst school I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life . . . Take my word,” (Salinger 167). Holden’s conversation with Phoebe is a direct example of him using excessive lying as a coping mechanism. His sister confronts him about flunking out of school, and he gets anxious because he does not want her to view him as worthless or unintelligent.

The truth is much less important to him than Phoebe’s thoughts on him are. According to the research of psychologists, people tend to lie so that they can become the one in control of the conversation. If they can successfully manipulate the truth it prevents them from becoming vulnerable towards others. It is easier for people to stretch the truth to a more acceptable version, rather than to reveal their own true self. Holden has a major issue with revealing who he truly is to those around him. When people lie to make themselves look more socially acceptable like Holden does, it boosts their self esteem. Not only does Holden lie to Phoebe to boost his ego, he does so many other times. While at Mr. Antolini’s house, Holden once again gets confronted about getting kicked out of his fourth school. He tells Mr. Antolini that one of his classes, oral expression, was unfair and that he did not deserve to fail it. He goes on about how the teacher had no brains and that he could drive you crazy.

He claims that is why he could not pass the class. Holden is lying to Mr. Antolini so as to take some of the blame off of himself and put it onto his teacher, Mr. Vinsons. He is feeling down on himself for flunking out of another school, and he does not need the people he is surrounded with to be disappointed in him as well. This is a clear example of Holden using his lies to portray a more acceptable version of himself in front of others, and to avoid his inferiority. It is too vulnerable for him to admit that his grades are in fact his own fault, and no one else’s. He finds it much easier to lie than he does to reveal his true self. This is one of the more common reasons behind Holden’s lies, but it is not the only reason he portrays throughout the novel.

Kind-hearted Lies: Protecting Others and Oneself

While Holden does lie as a way to deceive others’ and their perspectives on him, he also lies to avoid hurting others with the truth. It is easier for the human brain to come up with a “kind-hearted lie”, a lie that is protecting others, than it is to tell them the brutal truth. In the text, after Holden leaves Pencey on a train, he meets Mrs. Morrow. She is the mother of one of Holden’s Pencey classmates, Ernest, and she sits down next to him on the train. Her and Holden begin talking to her about Ernest and what everyone thinks of him. Holden knows that in reality he personally does not like Mrs. Morrow’s son, and that he believed he was a complete bastard. Holden starts to talk to Mrs. Morrow some more and he has the chance to expose how people truly feel about Ernest, but he decides not to. Instead of telling the truth about how he genuinely feels, Holden lies to protect Mrs. Morrow’s feelings, as well as her sons. Holden proceeds to say: “He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself,” (Salinger 55). While talking to Mrs. Morrow, Holden stops to gather his thoughts on what he actually thinks of Ernest before telling her personally. He thinks about how much of a bastard he is, and how he was one of those phonies that acted like they had no emotions all the time. But, when he starts talking aloud to Mrs. Morrow again, a different opinion comes out.

He instead tells her a made up opinion of Ernest, that sounds almost somewhat forced. According to research on “kind-hearted lies”, some people may also use them to help themselves feel a sense of superiority for protecting others feelings/emotions. Holden does feel remorse for others and mentions that he cannot tell a mother how he really feels about her son, but he also may be looking for a boost in his self confidence. He is looking for anything to help him feel more superior towards others, and having the decency to spare Mrs. Morrow’s feelings would have been a great way to do so. Holden uses this same reasoning for his lies towards Liliana Simmons. Holden runs into her at Ernie’s bar, and he explains that she is an old friend of his eldest brother, D.B.. She is talking up a storm and Holden is getting very annoyed with her as well as her date. He listens to Lily talk for quite a while, but when she invites him over to sit at her table, he decides to simply tell her “I was just leaving,” (Salinger 87). He lies to her by pretending he has a friend to meet soon, so he has to be going now. Then, he gets up and leaves. Holden is lying to her to protect her from the real reason he is leaving, which is simply because he cannot stand her. It is more socially acceptable to lie in these types of situations, rather than to hurt someone else by telling the truth that may seem unnecessary. It is also psychologically easier to ease someone down with a lie, instead of blurting out the truth they may not want to hear. The most common reason human beings tend to lie is to protect those around them.

Holden does so multiple times throughout the novel including while conversing with Mrs. Morrow. This type of lie is used to make others feel better by not telling them the truth, while also making yourself feel better for protecting someone else’s emotions. While using this reasoning for lying, Holden gets to take the easy route by telling others what they want to hear while also boosting his own confidence levels. He continues to lie because each time, he lessens his inferiority complex little by little. This is one of the many reasons hidden behind Holden Caulfield’s excessive pathological lies.

Avoiding Embarrassment: Escaping Uncomfortable Truths

Another huge underlying motive for many humans lies, including Holden’s, is the constant need to avoid embarrassment. Holden does not enjoy drawing too much attention to himself, as a result of his inferiority. He, as well as many others, would do anything to avoid embarrassment, even if it means lying. Embarrassment often sends people into a fight or flight mode which releases a large amount of adrenaline into the body. Oftentimes, when someone goes into fight or flight mode, they can be more likely to lie, sometimes even unknowingly. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden lies to avoid his own embarrassment on many occasions. One aspect of his life that Holden is ashamed of, is the fact that he is still in fact, a virgin. During his time staying at the Edmont Hotel, Holden comes across a man named Maurice who he meets in the elevator. Maurice approaches him asking him if he is “Innerested in a little tail t’night? . . . Well, how ‘bout it,” (Salinger 91). He then talks Holden into paying five dollars for a girl to be sent right to his hotel room for a “throw”. Holden goes up to his room to prepare, but is starting to get nervous. When the assigned girl, Sunny, is sent to his room, he starts to procrastinate. He begins to talk excessively and distract from what Sunny’s really there for. Holden ends up coming to the decision to lie to Sunny and make up a story for why he cannot participate in sexual acts. He pretends as if he has just had a surgery on his spinal canal and that he has been told he should not be moving too much. He then states that he will still pay her the five dollars just for coming. After blurting out his lie to Sunny, Holden feels as if she did not quite buy it. She walks over to him and asks him what’s the matter? Holden is starting to get nervous that his lie did not work on her, but he nonchalantly says “‘Nothing’s the matter.’ Boy was I getting nervous,” (Salinger 96).

Here, Holden not only avoids his embarrassment by lying about why he cannot have sex with Sunny, he lies once again when she asks him if he really had a spinal cord surgery. Holden mentions many times that he is ashamed of the fact that he is still a virgin and tends not to tell many people. This is his reasoning for lying to Sunny about why he would not sleep with her. He would have felt too embarrassed to tell her the truth about his sex life, so he opted to lie instead. Holden’s lie helped to save him from an uncomfortable situation that may have left him with even more of an inferiority feeling in the end. Holden also becomes embarrassed in front of Mr. Antolini later on. He had just arrived at his old teacher [Mr. Antolini’s] house and after a while of catching up, he got onto the couch to go to sleep. He then surprisingly woke up in the middle of the night to Mr. Antolini petting his head. Mr. Antolini tells Holden that he is just admiring him as he sleeps, but Holden was beyond embarrassed. Holden immediately stood up to grab his stuff and to leave. He ran for the door while prepping a lie to blurt out as he leaves. Mr. Antolini is begging for him to stay, so Holden desperately states that he has got to leave anyways because “I left my bags at the station . . . All my money and stuff’s in one of my bags,” (Salinger 192).

Holden will do anything to avoid being even more embarrassed than he initially was waking up next to Mr. Antolini. Staying at his house instead of leaving at that moment, would most likely have led to even more embarrassing encounters between the two of them in the morning. But, Holden’s ability to lie saved him from having to experience that, and instead gave him a way out. Based on research done by The Paul Ekman Group, “Avoiding embarrassment is relevant to many less serious lies that come under the rubric of lies-of-everyday-life,” (Ekman 1). People often use lying as a way to see themselves out of awkward or unwanted situations. Throughout the novel Holden becomes an expert in lying, but he focuses largely on lying to avoid his embarrassment.

Conclusion: Unpacking Holden’s Compulsive Dishonesty

Holden Caulfield, from the novel The Catcher in the Rye, struggles severely with his own inferiority and the traumatic life events that he has gone through. So, he turns to pathological lying tendencies to distract himself and to help cope. Holden lies for various reasons and to many different people. The one thing all of his lies have in common is that they all distract from the inferiority complex he struggles with deep down. He lies to avoid his own embarrassment, to avoid intentionally hurting others, and to lead others to perceive him in the way he would like them to. Holden becomes conditioned to this lifestyle and has led himself to believe that each of these lies will help him to feel just a little bit better about himself. As Holden once said, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful . . . It’s terrible,” (Salinger 16).

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Analysing Holden Caulfield through the Psychology of Lying

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