Holden tells himself he is better than he really is in order to ignore his many faults.
1. Chapters 3-5
2. Chapters 6-8
2.1. Fight with Stradlater
2.1.1. Holden believes he is this tough guy and he decides to take down Stradlater after he made a comment about Jane. However, Holden is not as strong as he thinks he is and loses the fight. He tells himself that he is strong enough although deep down he knows that he's not.
2.1.2. "That's the trouble with all you morons. You never want to discuss anything . That's the way you can always tell a moron. They never want to discuss anything intellig-" Then he really let one go at me, and the next thing I knew I was on the goddam floor again" (Salinger 44-45).
2.1.2.1. Holden doesn't want to lose a fight so he needs to get the last word of the argument. It serves him right when Salinger gets on the floor and pummels him for the second time after he started talking trash again.
2.2. Holden Leaves Pencey
2.2.1. "Sleep tight, ya morons!" (Salinger 52).
2.2.1.1. Holden leaves with a bang when he screams goodbye in the middle of the night. He thinks he is entitled to do whatever he wants while in reality he is just some nobody.
2.3. Holden Meets Mrs. Morrow
2.3.1. "I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that-although I am quite sexy" (Salinger 54).
2.3.1.1. Holden thinks he is extremely attractive but from what we can tell, he is just some average guy. He is most likely average looking, too, but tells himself otherwise to feel more confident.
2.3.2. Holden offers to take Mrs. Morrow to the bar on the train, but then she mentions that he seems too young. He tries to point out that he's tall for his age and he has grey hairs, in order to seem older and keep up his mature act. Holden flirts with this older woman because he thinks that he can have anyone he wants, although he's just a boy who does not know his place. (57)
3. Chapters 1-2
3.1. Fencing Team at Pencey
3.1.1. "I was goddam manager of the fencing team. Very bid deal" (Salinger 3).
4. Holden's Faults
4.1. Unorganized
4.1.1. "I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my fault...The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train. It was pretty funny" (Salinger 3).
4.1.1.1. Holden tries to laugh at his mistakes to take away from the fact that it really was his fault. Making jokes about his mistake was easier than owning up to it.
4.2. Doesn't Apply Himself
4.2.1. "They gave me frequent warning to start applying myself-especially around midterms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer-but I didn't do it. So I got the ax. They give guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey" (Salinger 4).
4.2.1.1. Holden tells the reader that lots of guys at Pencey get kicked out, to make us think that it isn't just him and it happens all the time. Meanwhile it happened to him because unlike the others, he isn't trying hard in his classes.