Catcher In The Rye Quotes About Phoebe

push or something, and say, “Who? Who said that?”...” Throughout the book, Phoebe is frequently described as acting older and more mature than the common, stereotypical ten year old. At one point, when describing Phoebe to the reader, Holden states, “I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you’re talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you. If you take her to a lousy movie, for instance, she knows it’s a lousy movie. If you take her to a pretty good movie, she knows it’s a pretty good movie.” Holden describes how Phoebe is able to understand concepts that may seem complicated for a ten year old. She is able to determine, for example, the quality of a film when she sees it, or at least to come to the same conclusion Holden does about it. From previous chapters, we know Holden has a complicated set of principles when it comes to movies and Hollywood productions, yet according to him, Phoebe is able to keep up with his interpretations and beliefs about what makes a movie decent or not. Similarly, Holden also describes her maturity when he says, “And when Allie and I …show more content…
Holden is a teenager, six years older than Phoebe, yet acts significantly less mature than she does. A common theme in the book is innocence and Salinger consistently depicts throughout the text how Holden is obsessed with the idea of innocence and preserving it. Holden, having lost his innocence at a young age by experiencing his younger brother’s death, is set on the idea of preserving people’s innocence, Phoebe’s in particular. Phoebe, however, by acting so mature for her age, represents growing up, maturing, and the loss of innocence. Representing almost the polar opposite of Holden, Phoebe does not fear growing up and maturing. In some sense, she rather searches for answers to questions in life and is not afraid of learning more about the world and the bad that comes with