Catcher In The Rye Phoebe Character Analysis

Words: 1000
Pages: 4

Phoebe, Holden's sister, is the only person who Holden has a genuine connection too. Although Phoebe is mentioned several times throughout the novel, she only makes an appearance twice, but these two times change Holden's life for the positive. Holden is being kicked out of his third school and plans to runaway yet his levelheaded sister makes him realize that his plan is not realistic. Her use of charm, intelligence, and downright common sense allow Holden to see that he needs to get his life on the right track again. Phoebe's character allows Holden to mature by coming clean to their parents and reforming his ways. It is obvious that Holden has a fear of growing up, by his views about sex, people, and school. When he makes his first adult decision, by coming home, it tells the reader that he understands he has been making wrong choices. The relationship that Holden and Phoebe posses closely …show more content…
Phoebe changes this meaning of youth when she allows Holden to make a very mature decision. Youth is very important to Holden, he makes this very clear when he tells Phoebe about his dream to be the catcher in the rye in the name of protecting kids of their innocence. When Allie died, he never got to experience his youth, so Holden wants to protect other children from the same fate. Holden acts very childish throughout the novel, he ruins a friendship with a girl because she does not want to carry out his plan with him. He acts childish because he is afraid of growing up, the reader can tell that Holden is not ready to make adult decisions, and if faced with one he would probably make the situation worse. When Holden finally makes his adult decision it leads him to some sort of hospital because of a "sickness", Holden needed to get professional help. Phoebe changed the theme in that she allowed the reader to understand why Holden had this strange desire to protect children from falling off a