Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Catcher in the Rye: 7

I know you want to read muh found poem. But I'm not letting you.

Anyway. My favorite character in the whole entire book is *almost* introduced! Because so far, I know you've all been waiting in agony for that one awesome person to come along and actually make this book worth reading. Well don't worry and quit yer whining because he's almost here! Just a couple more pages...

With that being said, I've decided to psychoanalyze Holden and Phoebe. First of all, I'd like to express my anger with the spelling of Phoebe. Seriously? It makes a perfectly nice and pleasant name look like "Fo-ee-bbb" which sounds horrible. It really does. If you ask me, it should be spelled Febea. Muuuch nicer to look at.

So. Holden and Febea. Yes. For some reason whenever I read this book I always expect their relationship to be different. I expect Febea to be almost nicer and sweeter. When he finally gets to see her in their house she is just sitting on the bed and telling him their dad is going to kill Holden while he is really trying to tell her what's been going on in his life as of lately. She doesn't really seem to care. And it pisses ME OFF! Febea sounds kind of like a kid I might hate. Holden really talks her up for more than she really is. She is never half of what she's cracked up to be. And it makes me mad. So Febea is a jerk. But Holden is completely oblivious to this even though she acts just like all the other phonies he's met along the way!! That's what kills me, that although she is a naive jerk, Holden worships the sheets she lays on. I also know that she's only ten but she never seems very intelligent to me. Every little thing she does it magic to Holden, and for example when Holden tells Febea that he dropped her record and it was all in pieces she just saved them and Holden says "She took them right out of my hand and she put them in the drawer of the night table. She kills me." Why would that kill you? Holden falls all over her and she just passes him by without even noticing that he pays so much attention to her. She really bugs me and does not kill me the way she kills Holden. In another sense she does...

4 comments:

  1. Sarah,
    I see where you are coming from; it seems that Phoebe takes Holden's attention for granted. I don't think Holden knows that even young people can be phony too. She doesn't seem to care that Holden bought something for her or even thought about her when he was in New York. Maybe Holden is trying to have the same relationship he had with Allie with Phoebe? I'm not sure...hope we find out!

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  2. personally i love the spelling of phoebe!
    Phoebe is just as much of a phony as Holden is, if not less of one! I'm pretty sure that she really does care about Holden, otherwise, she wouldn't have been telling him over and over how "dad was going to kill him". Sure, she might be annoying, but what little kid isn't. I guess I don't really get up in a tizzy about Phoebe, because I'm just so darn glad she's there!! Holden would literally kill himself if she wasn't, thanks to Phoebe, his life still has SOMETHING worth living for!

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  3. It was not until a few days ago that I realized how Phoebe was pronounced, I thought it was pronounced phobe like irrational fear of. With the Es silent. Oops...

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  4. Sarah...now that we've completed our reading of 'Catcher in the Rye,' will you humor your teacher and at least tell her you kind of enjoyed it?!?! And that maybe you learned to appreciate Salinger a bit more?!?! And that maybe you acquired valuable skills of evaluation and analysis by psychoanalyzing Holden's character?!?! Please?!?!

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