catcher in the rye :: essays research papers

Holden’s True Love Children: spirited, loveable, cute, and something that a society could not live without. But when ones life is so rotated around children like JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye character, Holden, one loses all conscious and can only find happiness when with children or thinking about them. Holden can only find genuine love in children, for they have not learned the dreadful prerequisite of life, â€Å"phonieness.† He hates the artificiality that adults eventually acquire because all his good memories remain in his youth and his life with young children his age. This characteristic of Holden is shown throughout the book, particularly with his love for Phoebe, his helping the innocent children who are unable to help themselves, and his love for Jane at their age of serenity and ignorance! Holden shows his love for Phoebe by continuously thinking about her and requiring for her company. The only gift we have ever seen given by Holden was his record purchase for Phoebe. â€Å"Besides, I wanted to find a record store that was open on Sunday. There was this record I wanted to get for Phoebe, called ‘Little Shirely Beans.’ It was a very hard record to get (114).† This is one example of Holden’s thought and love for Phoebe. We can believe that he only views Phoebe as one who deserves gifts in all the people that he knows. A great example of his love for Phoebe is how he risks showing himself at his own home just to see his sister. â€Å"Anyway, I went into D.B’s room quiet as hell, and turned on the lamp on the desk. Old Phoebe didn’t even wake up†¦ My mother, she has ears like a goddam bloodhound (159).† Holden takes this risk, a risk that could cost him much more then a week of hell. His love for his sister’s com pany is obvious by this and there is no denying that he would have never taken this risk if he found himself having a phony and older sister. What separates Phoebe from all of the rest of the phony people is by how â€Å"straight-up† she is. She gets to the point and she doesn’t try to squiggle out of the situation. This is proven when she says, â€Å"’How come you’re not home Wednesday?’ ‘What?’†¦ ‘How come you’re not home Wednesday?’ She asked me, ‘You didn’t get kicked out or anything, did you?