Holden Caulfield Character Analysis

He couldn’t give a single, solid answer to the question. All he said was Allie. But Allie is gone, and Holden is holding on the the past, a place where he feels, or felt, safe and wants to go back to his times with Allie, who he misses very much. This conversation with Phoebe made Holden really think about what he was been doing for the past years, pushing everyone to the side, not caring about anyone or anything; no friends, failing school, and he comes to recognize that childhood was good, not adulthood or this awful in-between that he is stuck in.

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is a rather unique character. He has several complications with other characters that he runs into, and does not seem that he is able to relate to anyone. However, Holden has a younger sister named Phoebe, and he seems to connect with her in a way that he does not with anyone else. She is only ten years old, so she and Holden both have a childlike mind. On the other hand, Phoebe seems to have a positive outlook on life while Holden sees most things in a negative light. Another contrast between them is that Phoebe puts in effort at school, and Holden is clearly not concerned his performance at school.

In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.

Holden's younger sister Phoebe, is also in need of Holden's protection. He must protect her because he failed to protect his brother Allie from death. Holden feels that it is his responsibility to protect Phoebe from whatever may put her in danger, even himself: "I was glad. All of a sudden I wanted her to cry till her eyes practically dropped out. I almost hated her. I think I hated her most because she wouldn't be in that play any more if she went away with me." (207) He does not want Phoebe to turn out like himself. He wants

Although Holden describes the situation in a very attractive manner, he basically tells Phoebe that he wants to prevent children from growing up. He blames the world's evil on adults and believes that when he stops the children from growing up he will save their innocence and the world.

And that sometimes you will fail, but you have to keep on trying. In this instance, Holden had a moment of realization and decided to let old Phoebe be her own person and create her own path. He could no longer hold her back and hide her from maturing. Holden never wanted to make that next step to adulthood, therefore he tried to keep Phoebe back with him. He was always scared to face the fact and reach for the ring, while Phoebe wants to get the ring before anyone else. As Holden sits back on the bench, he says to Phoebe,” No, you’re not . Go on. I’ll wait for ya. Go on.” At this point Holden just sits back as he watches old Phoebe grow before his eyes. Holden needs to realize that everyone goes into adulthood, it's an important aspect of

In chapter 21 Holden returns home two days early because he wants to say his goodbyes to Phoebe, when arriving at his family's apartment he walks over to Phoebe’s room and sees that she is not there, he then goes to D.B’s room to find her sleeping. Before deciding to wake up Phoebe, Holden sits in D.B’s room and looks at his brother’s desk and says “You ought to see her doing her homework or something at that crazy desk. It’s almost as big as the bed. You can hardly see her when she’s doing her homework. That’s the kind of stuff she likes, though” (Salinger 175-176). Phoebe is a smart, strong and a confident young woman. Phoebe redefines stereotypes by being intelligent which is one of the traits that Holden admires throughout the course of the novel. Phoebe embodies such a conception of perfection by being intelligent that she becomes an ideal for Holden as he thinks highly of

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

One of the few people Holden actually cares about is his sister Phoebe. Throughout his journey, he always thinks and talks about her a lot. He cares for her so much

Holden and Phoebe share an unbreakable bond that plays a crucial role throughout the novel. Holden and Phoebe have similar qualities because they are siblings, but the way they approach life and interact with people is very different. The Catcher in the Rye takes place in the mid-1900s in New York City. The novel begins with Holden getting kicked out of Pencey Prep Academy. He is not ready to face his family and disappoint them once again, but he is also looking forward to go home because he loves being around his little sister Phoebe. She is the one person that he can truly talk to and she is the most important person in his life. Phoebe also adores her older brother. She accepts him for who he is, flaws and all. Holden and Phoebe are similar and different in their physical appearance, character traits, and the ways they contribute to the novel.

It causes him to be even more depressed facing this issue, but he needs to solve it. Similarly when Phoebe is on the carousel, Holden is worrying about her falling, but it causes him to recognize that “the thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring you have to let them do it, they fall off, they fall off." (211). This causes Holden to understand that this is life and he must accept everything. One might object that this does not cause Holden to mature. However, to Holden from how he despises the society and avoiding it to now being about to at least admit this issue, not avoiding it and later start to go to school. He might not fully mature, but it is a huge step for him to becoming mature. Children will grow up including Holden and follow the way life works no matter what. Hence, Phoebe induces Holden 's way of viewing the world. Hence, the relationship with Phoebe changes Holden 's perspective of the world.

Holden constantly criticizes people throughout the book and rarely says anything positive about people. So, by Holden saying “nice” when describing Phoebe, leds back to his reverent tone and how he loves Phoebe so much. Holden is incapable of saying anything bad about Phoebe, and if Phoebe had any flaws, Holden would tell his audience how her flaws were good flaws. Holden also tells his audience that, they “ought to see old Phoebe” because he wants tem to see why he is so fond

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

Holden is never really happy except when he is with or thinking about Phoebe and when he is thinking about Allie. He also refers to adults as “phonies.” On the other hand, Phoebe has a great attitude towards things and people, and has many friends. Holden is often found isolating himself from other people. Another way Holden is different from Phoebe is he isn’t ever touched by anyone so he tends to misinterpret things. The only people who have touched Holden in the novel were Phoebe and Mr. Antolini. “What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head,” (Salinger, 194). These are just some of the differences between Holden and

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.