Catcher in the Rye: Irony

The novel, Catcher in the Rye, is ironic in a few ways.  One way that it is ironic stood out to me very much.  Holden makes his hatred of phoniness and superficial people quite clear.  He always talks about phony people, words, and actions.  However, he is phony in very many actions he takes.  He said that he hates phony people, yet he hangs around with phony people and acts nice to them which is a very phony thing to do.  He ended up getting drinks with the three ladies down at the lounge and ended up talking to them for a while.  He acted phony so they would like him.  Ironically, he was the thing he hated.  Another occasion of Holden acting phony was when he tells us what a good liar he is.  He often decieves other people by lying about age or name or events in his life.  On the train, he said he was getting surgury and lied about his name.  When he was with the prostitute, he made excuses why they could not proceed with sexual intercourse.  At bars and clubs, he always lies about his age so he can get served drinks.  He often acts very phony although he despises them.

Another ironic happening is that Holden says he dislikes religion.  He thinks that it is unlikely and thinks that some of the stuff that happened in it is not real.  However, he says that he "admires Jesus".  This is very ironic because someone who hates the bible and thinks that it is untrue would not be admiring Jesus.  He also thinks about the nuns he met very often.  Although he hates the bible, he admires the nuns as well.  It is just very ironic.

Some smaller ironic phrases and ideas were in the novel as well.  The name of the prostitute, Sonny, was slightly ironic.  It is funny that someone who sold sex for a living had such a pleasant and innocent name.  This adds some irony as well as humor to the novel.  Another small event of irony in the book is at the beginning when Ackley is talking about his religion.  He says, "Listen, I don't care what you say about me or anything, but if you start making cracks about my goddamn religion, for Chrissake-".   This sentence is so ironic because Ackley tells Holden to stop talking about his religion, but then he takes his lord's name in vain by saying "goddamn" and "Chrissake".  This was a small example of irony, but it was irony none the less.  Another ironic example in the novel is Holden wanting to fake being older so he can drink.  This was very ironic in my opinion because the whole theme of the book was that he did not want to accept growing up.  However, he wants to have adult things.  This was ironic because the two ideas were completely different from each other.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.