Franny and Zooey

The book Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger, is a really spiffy book consisting of two short stories. It is somewhat similiar to the author's other works in that a central theme is "phoniness" and people being fake.

This is captured really well by Salinger, and this theme starts to really occur when Franny is having a breakdown.  One of the central reasons for this is because all the kids at her her college are not the way she would have liked, and she does not  feel that she is getting a how she is not getting a very good experience. This is because, as she tells her boyfriend, Lane, she hates the phoniness and shallowness of people at school, and how they never act like themselves and often say things that aren't true. It comes to such extremes when she says she quit the school play, because acting is too similiar to being fake. 

She then has a complete spiritual crisis- involving fainting and praying- because she feels this way. Her own assumed honesty is crashing down on her, and becoming a disadvantage (though honesty, even though is a good trait, can often be a disadvantage in general.) But even so, her hatred of phoniness descends on herself, too, because how could everyone else be phony and not her? I think its also the realization that she could be fake, too which started her breakdown, and maybe invoked a little bit of an identity/personality crisis,

I realize that Salinger does not just mean fakeness in school, but deceit in character during our entire life. I think that as people get older, they lie more often. Babies are the most honest, but even teenagers have some degree of honesty sometimes. Adults often lie, even if it's only a "for your own good" lie. ("Wake up, we have donuts!") People get smarter and so more able to discern their wants and how to get them when they grow older. You want to fit in? Okay, just lie about your personality. Franny, who  has been smart all along, begins to realize this when it comes to a high point-- college, when everyone is growing up and becoming adults.

However, in spite of all this, I think that Salinger does not blame people for these flaws, but instead respects them for their humanity. Another central theme in the book is being good to all people. This is taught to Franny and Zooey primarily (as most things are) by their older brothers, who try to convince them that all people are worthy. Their parents have their respect even though their kids are much smarter than them, and so do, I think, the college students. I think that Salinger thinks the human race has many problems, but loves it anyway (how could he not; he is a human person, as he says, people are very egotistical.)