Holden and his fake family in The Catcher in the Rye The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, interacts with many people in JD Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, but probably none had the same impact on him as some members of his immediate family. The way Holden acts or reacts to various members of his family gives the reader direct insight into Holden's philosophy surrounding each member. Holden refers to the word “false” forty-four separate times throughout the novel (Corbett 68-73) . Each time he seems to refer to the subject of this metaphor as: someone who discriminates against others, is a hypocrite about something, or has displays of conformity (Corbett 71). In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden describes and interacts with various members of his family. The way he talks about them or with each one gives you an idea whether he thinks they are "fake" or normal. Some of his accounts make it more obvious than others to find out how he classifies each family member. From the first page of the novel, Holden begins to refer to his parents as distant and frequently generalizes both his father and mother throughout his chronicle. An example is: "...my parents would have about two hemorrhages each if I told something personal about them. They're pretty touchy about something like that, especially my dad. They're nice and all - I'm not saying that - but they're also damn touchy" (Salinger 1). Holden's father is a lawyer and therefore considers him "fake" because he firmly sees his father's occupation as paralleling his father's personality. For example, when Holden talks to Phoebe about what he wants to do when he grows up, he cannot answer her question and proceeds to give her his opinion on his father's occupation. "It doesn't appeal to me," I said. “I mean, they're fine if they're going around saving lives all the time and stuff like that, but if you're a lawyer you don't do that kind of thing. All you do is make a lot of money and play golf and bridge and buy cars and drink martinis and look like a big shot. How would you know you're not a fake? The problem is, you wouldn't" (Salinger 172).