Holden is a very sensitive person, which could be seen as his core "problem," and as an adolescent, he is also struggling with issues of identity. He most often lies, therefore, to protect other people emotionally, and then to protect himself emotionally.
For instance, as the novel opens, he has been asked to leave Pencey because he is failing too many classes. His history teacher, Mr. Spencer, sends him a note asking him to come say goodbye. Holden visits, and he lies to protect Mr. Spencer's ego:
Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would've done exactly the same thing if I'd been in his place, and how most people didn't appreciate how tough it is being a teacher.
Holden is actually very kind to Mr. Spencer. He has to get away, though, as it is uncomfortable for him to be there, so he tells what we would call a white lie and says he has to be somewhere else. Later, he berates himself for this tendency to tell self-protective white lies, which are also lies to protect other people. After all, Holden doesn't tell Mr. Spencer he has to leave because he finds him a disgusting old man who lectures him with stupid cliches, but tries to leave him on a positive note. He doesn't want other people to feel pain and will assume a negative role, such as calling himself a moron, to protect someone else's feelings.
Holden recognizes how many lies he tells, which shows he has more moral awareness than a person like Stradlater, who lies all the time but doesn't think twice about it.
Holden also lies when he meets his old student advisor from Whooton, Luce, who is sexually knowledgeable. We know that Holden is a virgin, but he pretends to be sexually active in order to avoid being ridiculed by Luce, from whom he hopes to get some information about sex. In this case, Holden is protecting himself by lying.
Holden is a self-conscious person who has a traumatic past and is a relative outsider at school. He struggles to transition into the world of adults and is depicted as a naive, highly critical individual. Holden continually criticizes people for acting phony because he views them as disingenuous, superficial individuals. Ironically, Holden is a hypocrite because he continually lies to others. Many of Holden's lies concern trivial matters, and he is depicted as a relatively lousy liar. Holden continually lies about his age and makes up outrageous, bizarre tales. In chapter 8, Holden tells a friendly woman on the train that his name is Rudolf and he is heading home to have a tiny brain tumor removed. Holden's lies are ridiculous and harmless, which indicates that he feels entertained by tricking people. Taking into consideration the fact that Holden feels powerless, he may see lying as a way to control other people, which provides him with a sense of authority. Manipulating others may be Holden's way of attaining some semblance of control over his life. Holden may also be attempting to mimic the "phony" adults, who tell small lies and manipulate others in order to attain certain perks. Holden could possibly believe that lying is necessary to be successful as an adult, which could explain his numerous trivial lies.
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