Holden's Relationship with Phoebe
Holden’s relationship with Phoebe
Holden Caulfield, the main character from J.D. Salinger’s book The Catcher in
The Rye, holds a different relationship with his 10-year old sister Phoebe than any other character in the book. With his view of life and his insecurities, Holden finds it hard to connect with, get along with, and meet and other people. Throughout the novel it is quite obvious that Holden has difficulties finding someone who can understand him instead of judging him.
Holden sees that Phoebe is really the only person he can go to that will not judge him. Without Phoebe Holden will not have anyone to talk to. Phoebe is that only person that Holden does not think of as a ‘Phony’. At the beginning of chapter 23, there is a scene where Holden asks Phoebe to dance “C’mon I said ‘you feel like dancing?’ I taught her how to dance and all when she was a tiny little kid, she’s a very good dance I mean. I just taught her a few things. She learned it mostly by herself. You can’t teach somebody to really dance” From only reading that, you can see that Holden thinks highly of his little sister. He then goes onto complimenting Phoebe, saying that kids are usually terrible at dancing but with Phoebe it is different. Holden loves that Phoebe is always honest about everything and she’s never fake with him, or anyone else.
In his life, Holden seems to think everyone is phony, or fake. People do not accept him mostly because no one understands his views on life, school, or anything, but because Phoebe does understand him, she is really the only person he can maintain a stable relationship with. Therefore, Holden’s relationship with Phoebe is much more real than the
Holden Caulfield, the main character from J.D. Salinger’s book The Catcher in
The Rye, holds a different relationship with his 10-year old sister Phoebe than any other character in the book. With his view of life and his insecurities, Holden finds it hard to connect with, get along with, and meet and other people. Throughout the novel it is quite obvious that Holden has difficulties finding someone who can understand him instead of judging him.
Holden sees that Phoebe is really the only person he can go to that will not judge him. Without Phoebe Holden will not have anyone to talk to. Phoebe is that only person that Holden does not think of as a ‘Phony’. At the beginning of chapter 23, there is a scene where Holden asks Phoebe to dance “C’mon I said ‘you feel like dancing?’ I taught her how to dance and all when she was a tiny little kid, she’s a very good dance I mean. I just taught her a few things. She learned it mostly by herself. You can’t teach somebody to really dance” From only reading that, you can see that Holden thinks highly of his little sister. He then goes onto complimenting Phoebe, saying that kids are usually terrible at dancing but with Phoebe it is different. Holden loves that Phoebe is always honest about everything and she’s never fake with him, or anyone else.
In his life, Holden seems to think everyone is phony, or fake. People do not accept him mostly because no one understands his views on life, school, or anything, but because Phoebe does understand him, she is really the only person he can maintain a stable relationship with. Therefore, Holden’s relationship with Phoebe is much more real than the