Characters: Phoebe

Phoebe is a very smart, kind hearted, and determined young girl who is the sister of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. Even though she is six years younger than her older brother, she understands that no matter what everyone has to grow up and become a mature adult. Holden is yet to understand this while he tries to fight maturity. She is very smart in her school and knows what is right and wrong. She knows that Holden getting kicked out of school is not good and that he is just being immature and even though they love each other very much, she is mad at him for this. She just wants him to be happy and she knows that when he talks bad about all of his teachers and old schools he is really talking about problems he has. Even though she is young, when her parents come home from a party she takes the heat from her parents about the cigarette smell even though it was Holden(Salinger, 230), when most young kids I know would not have hesitated to rat out an older sibling. Phoebe understands what makes her parents upset and she knows that she does not want her or Holden to disappoint them and she does not want Holden to be in trouble.

Phoebe is also very useful to the Holden's story and background. She becomes a second narrator when he comes to visit and we learn things about him that we would not have learned if Holden was the narrator the entire story. She pressures him into a corner with one statement, "You don't like anything that's happening."(Salinger,220). He argues with her and she asks him to name one thing he likes, really likes. This is the point when we learn more about their deceased sibling Allie. I do not thing we would have learned more about him if it were not for Phoebe and her level of maturity and understanding of the course of life.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print