Holden Caulfield And Phoebe Relationship

The relationship between Holden and Phoebe forms a major theme that the novel aims to deliver. The fact that he is having this conversation with Phoebe, a child who is anything but simple and innocent, reveals the oversimplification of his worldview. Holden himself realizes this to a degree when he acknowledges that his idea is “crazy”, yet he cannot come up with anything more pragmatic; he has trouble seeing the world in any other way. His “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in pure, uncorrupted youth, and his desire to protect that spirit. On the other hand, it represents his extreme disconnection from reality and his naïve view of the world. Phoebe exposes to Holden a living embodiment of childhood. And it is a scene with her where she exposes to Holden the illogical nature of his supervisory actions, indicating that his desire to preserve her innocence will only halt her own inevitable development. Phoebe is the Greek word for “protector of children” (Bloom 2009, p185). Within the novel she is Holden’s protector. She comforts him, provides him with financial security, and protects him from getting in trouble with their mother. Reiff describes this reversal of roles between Holden and Phoebe as “Now, instead of saving the world by protecting the children, Holden wants to reject the world and shut himself off from evil by becoming a ‘deaf-mute’ in the West. It is Phoebe who rescues him from this total withdrawal” (Reiff 2008, p71). Phoebe forces Holden to view her as a human—living and progressing— rather than as a forever preserved child, and it is this humanization that causes Holden to accept her eventual progression into

How did Holden’s mood change when he saw Phoebe sleeping? How did Phoebe respond when Holden woke her? Why was her respond important to him?

After about three days of drifting, Holden gets very excited fantasizing about how he will go out west and start life anew. However, before he leaves, he must say goodbye to Phoebe. This shows how Holden prioritizes Phoebe over himself, valuing her innocence. Holden writes a note telling Phoebe to meet him at the museum because he is planning to run away. Then Phoebe arrives at the museum with a suitcase and begs to run away with him. Holden responds harshly that she cannot go with him and she begins to cry. Then after a few moments Holden says, “I’m not going away anywhere. I changed my mind. So stop crying and shut up” (Salinger 207). Presumably he told Phoebe that he would not leave to make her stop crying, but he notes that Phoebe was

Love also becomes an important aspect, each thrive for passion and affection from others and have someone they confide in. Holden places deep care into his younger sister Phoebe because they connect on many levels, both as childlike mind and in interest. He also longs for closure towards his deceased brother Allie. Holden worries about his parents thoughts, he respects them. He is concerned about his mother’s reaction to getting kicked out of yet another school. The only two people he feels he has truly connected with are his sister and Allie, often in times of need they are the first he contacts. Throughout his cycle of depression he talks aloud to Allie. (Quote: Holden: “I felt so depressed, you can't even imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed.”) He shows he cares about Phoebe by constantly wanting to call and chat with her; he often talks about her. On the contrary he contradicts himself by finding an excuse to not call, or to not visit. By isolating himself he also goes against himself because he

Everyone in this world are not deemed as the perfect normal person. We all have struggles or challenges we go through life for either the good or bad. In the book, Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s personality seems like he does not need to care about anything around him. Holden Caulfield belongs in a mental institution because he can be a danger towards his love one, needs to think about how to make his life different, and fight his demon that are constantly haunting him.

First, Phoebe acts as a confidante for Holden by showing the reader Holden’s true emotions and thoughts. Phoebe reveals his moods of happiness and depression and why he feels the way he does. When Phoebe is on the carousel, Holden “felt so damn happy all of sudden[because] the way old Phoebe kept going around and around.[Holden]was damn near bawling, [He] felt so damn

Phoebe Caulfield is the kid sister of Holden. However, the role she possesses in his life is not limited to the stereotypical role that a typical little sister has with a older brother. Instead, she is a confidante to Holden who helps connect his true self to the rest of the world. Luther Luedtke also expresses the notion of Phoebe taking on a role in which she leads Holden to revealing his authentic nature because of the love and care she shows him, “But it is Phoebe’s genuine love for Holden and her unself-conscious honesty in expressing her

Holden and Phoebe share a lot of the same experiences because they are family. They both experienced the loss of their brother Allie, who died of leukemia. Holden describes Allie as the “most intelligent member of the family... also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody.” (Salinger, 38) However, Holden takes Allie’s death much harder than Phoebe does. Holden grieves and even cries over Allie, even though Allie had died a whole three years ago in the story. It is also what made Holden begin to go mad, but seems to have little effect on Phoebe all these years later. Holden even says that “they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the

Not only does Holden feel great affection for Phoebe, Phoebe feels great affection for Holden as well. It isn't too hard to understand that she and Holden are especially close since one of their brothers is dead and the other lives miles from their home. It is also surprising on how quickly Phoebe realizes that Holden came home earlier than expected. It is obvious that Phoebe is much more mature and articulate for her age to realize something like that so quickly. It is as if she is Holden's older sister instead of the younger one.

He loves his sister and is willing to run away from his school in order to see her again. According to the website: Proofreader.com, Holden says Phoebe’s name 117 times throughout the whole book. So many of the readers that abhor Holden’s uncaring attitude, they often forget to consider Holden’s more caring side to his younger siblings. Even when he's unbearably depressed, the thought of his younger siblings makes him smile

Holden repeatedly mentions his admiration for his younger sister, Phoebe. He idolizes her because she represents his

Holden and Phoebe are brother and sister in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden has this problem, where he wants to protect kids from losing their innocence. He is attached to a lot of little kids. But him and Phoebe are different for that story. Holden wants to protect her innocence, she knows how to handle Holden, and they have a connection that he doesn’t have with his older brother D.B., but he had one with Allie who passed away. Phoebe just has the innocence that Holden doesn’t have.

(81) The only true person or thing that does seem to make Holden feel better is thinking about Phoebe. He only feels better with her because she is one of the only people who can connect with him besides Mr. Antolini, one of Holden’s school teachers. Holden puts himself down so easily that everything around him or something that he hears has a depressing side to it. Even events that happen near him, make him feel lonely and depressed even if this event has

Phoebe Caulfield is the younger sister of our main character Holden. She is only ten years old but is such an amusing character. She is doubtless Holden’s favorite member in the whole Caulfield family. One reason for this is after Allie’s death ,Holden’s brother that passed away by cancer, Holden hasn’t really connected with his parents very well, separating him from them. This created a closer bond between Phoebe and Holden. (Salinger

Holden opens up to a few people one of the being sally. Holden sets up a date with her even though he does not like her that much he asks to take her to a play which he also doesn't enjoy but sally likes plays so he asked her to see one with him. He is trying to reach out to someone for help. He needs someone to talk to and share his issues with. He does not want to talk to many people so he does not have any way of telling someone about his troubles. They seem to let him down because with Phoebe his mom picks up the phone or he meets one of Phoebes friends but not Phoebe. With other people and girls he never ends up meeting up with them something is always in the way and blocking them from talking. I believe that these interactions show that