The theme that the world has an outward appearance that seems fair and perfect but really they're as Holden put it "phonies." This is shown countless amount of times in his journey through New York and even before he left. The setting is in the 1950's; so I'm pretty sure that he didn't encounter any transvestites, lesbians, or anything that extreme of phoniest. Or on the other hand he could have liked them for being …showed first 75 words of 2228 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2228 total…ink of that. Writers like Edgar Allen are obvious that they have a deeper meaning. But with Salinger it's hard to tell if this is a simple story of a boy rebelling or is it a great big metaphor for the world and how we are. Now if you ask him I,m sure he would say "oh that's what meant exactly," and he might as well have meant that; but who is to say.