Holden Caulfield Character

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.

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

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

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.

The only person that understands him and can give advice is his sister, Phoebe. A Tpassage were we can see that connexion between Phoebe and Holden is when he buys a gift for her and he uses a time to think about her “The first record store I went into had a copy of “Little Shirley Beans” (p.128).

Phoebe is shown to be the only character that Holden seems to truly be affectionate towards, because she is a form of innocence and does not depict the realities of the world. She allows him to be an escapist.

Phoebe is the only one left that truly cares about Holden. Aside from her, he is completely alone. Holden isolates himself as a way to cope with reality despite his need for human connection. His red hunting hat serves as a symbol of how he deals with uncomfortable situations. When talking to other people he will have his hat on, pretending to be someone he’s not. When he is by himself, his hat is off and his true thoughts are exposed. A good example is when he awakes to Mr. Antolini stroking his hair, causing Holden to remember bad experiences

in this part of the story holden seems very at peace it feels as if holden and Phoebe traded places, he became responsible all of a sudden. As they pass the carousel holden has a memory of Allie and D.B and how they used to take Phoebe to the park and how she loved carousel. As Phoebe gets on Holden get’s this sense of relief and for a second you can almost feel it too, he assures her that he won’t run anymore that he is done and will go home. i think this a very important part of the story because he just stops. He stops running and lying and cheating for a short while he is just honest and sincere. when Phoebe takes holden's red hunting hat and places it on her head it almost feels like Holden is giving her all his immaturity and childish like ways along with his adventure. (“I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling. I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.” pg.

She plays a significant role in the novel and is critical in helping Holden reevaluate his perception of the world (French). Holden is trying to prevent Phoebe from losing her innocence by shielding her from the impurity of the real world. Holden eventually realizes this is impossible when she mentions she is going to follow him out west if he leaves. When Holden see’s f*** you on the walls he realizes that phoniness is everywhere and there is really no way to escape

Holden has a bleak outlook on life, due to him believing that most people, things, and words are “phony”(Page 106). He wishes that you could just put some things in a glass case so they’d stay the same forever(Page 122). Phoebe is more cheerful and matured than Holden and understands that nothing lasts forever. Eventually, she encourages him to get some help towards the end of the book. Holden and Phoebe have differing personalities that compliment one another.

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.

Phoebe is portrayed as an intelligent young girl who likes to talk and is very emotional. She is by far Holden’s beloved family member in the story. She is and interesting and not your everyday little kid. Phoebe is a young smart individual that is uncharacteristic full of attitude and is very entertaining.

Holden describes him as being a protector and savior of all children. He and Phoebe got very close after the death of Allie because they only then knew how important it is to always be there for each other. Holden describes Phoebe as intelligent, funny, emotional and as a good dancer. Even though Phoebe is