Ch. 21 is the first time we get to meet Holden’s sister
Phoebe, and we also learn some more about his family. Holden describes his
mother as a very nervous person who stays up all night smoking cigarettes. She
has the ears “like a goddamn bloodhound. His mother also won’t let them play
the radio while the car is in traffic, suggesting she might have a problem with
small, still spaces. His brother D.B is writing another movie set in Annapolis,
Maryland. Phoebe is energetic and
affectionate, but she also displays some Holden like qualities. For instance,
while watching a movie with her friend, she says the mother would “lean all
over me and everything and ask Alice if she felt grippy. It got on my nerves. “
She also gets angry at Holden very quickly and starts shouting when she comes
to the conclusion that he got kicked out of school. Holden calls her “a true
madman.” This shouting frustrates him
and eventually he gets up to leave, but before he goes, Holden grabs another
pack of cigarettes. “I was all out, “ he says.
Is J.D Salinger only talking about the cigarettes here, or something more
about Holden emotional vertigo? Do you think the cigarettes symbolize anything
in this chapter? As for Holden’s family, how are they similar and different to
him, and how do you think this has contributed to his current emotional state?
I think the fact that Holden's mother is always nervous and panicky shows that she is still struggling with the aftermath of Allie's death. She and Holden are actually very similar in some ways, they both smoke cigarettes to calm their nerves. It also seems that they both have anxiety problems or the held in scream that no one hears. When Holden says he is all out of cigarettes i also think he was losing complete hope and he needed to visit Phoebe because as he says in chapter 21 Phoebe is one of the few things Holden actually likes a lot in the world. Holden and Phoebe both get frustrated easily, but Phoebe thinks about consequences. Phoebe keeps repeating that "Daddy is gonna kill you." when she hears Holden got kicked out of Pency. She also doesn't like to beat around the bush when she tries to get a straight up answer out of Holden weather or weather not he was kicked out of school.
ReplyDeleteHolden definitely has "lost his marbles" (an image we saw when he described the smooth silent floors a few chapters back), and he's begging for someone to notice his pain. If cigarettes are his "chances" he's given people to help him out of his whirlwind of disaster, then I'm afraid there will not be a very good ending for Holden in the following chapters. Holden's mother must be a nervous wreck that he doesn't want to set off like a bomb. However, by treading so carefully I think he's making it worse. I would constantly be worried if my son was not communicating, but I knew something was wrong with him. Holden really needs to just come out and say or do whatever he feels, and if his parents get really mad, it's okay, because at least it's progress. His dad seems a little distant unfortunately. Holden keeps connecting him to corporate situations any adult-phobic teenager would hate. Phoebe is clearly his shining star, but he's made her into this beacon of hope that she will not be able to fufill. She is just a little girl, and he needs to make her feel better, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are many ways that Holden is similar to his mother and his sister. For instance, both he and his mom smoke a lot. They both also seem to be still having difficulty coping with the death of Allie while maybe not fully realizing it. I think that Holden is similar to Phoebe due to both of their realistic and literal way of looking at life. Phoebe seems to be rather mature for a girl of her age, but while still maintaining a certain level of childishness. This only makes Phoebe seem to be even more similar to Holden because throughout the book, Holden gives the readers mixed signals about his maturity level. He takes care of himself on his own, which makes him appear more mature, but at the same time, he also dreads growing up and longs to hold on to the purity in children forever. Phoebe seems to act as a foil for Holden despite all of their similarities, because Phoebe seems to be more of a mature young child, while Holden remains a childish or immature adolescent. I think Holden's mom doesn't help Holden very much with his emotional state because his mom's similarities to Holden seem to bother him; however, with Phoebe, it seems that her personality almost seems to soothe Holden's emotions. My guess is that this is because Phoebe's strong and sure personality helps to keep Holden's slightly less stable personality calm and relaxed. As for the pack of cigarettes, I think that J.D. Salinger might have added in this detail in order to give the readers a hint about Holden and his mother's similarities so that the readers don't confuse Holden and his mother's disagreements as differences in their personalities.
ReplyDeleteI was actually hoping that someone would post something about this. While I was reading I actually noticed a lot of little similarities between Phoebe and Holden. One thing about her liking to write her middle name different reminds me of Holden. He also likes to lie sometimes too about his name (like telling people he is Jim Steele). When Phoebe says, “it got on my nerves,” it reminded me of Holden’s voice and how he’s always telling us stuff that annoys him. And when Phoebe says “Daddy’s gonna kill you” she over-exaggerating, using a hyperbole, just like Holden always does. Phoebe’s different in the fact that she doesn’t have a problem with things like movies and phonies. Perhaps maybe it’s because she’s still a child and Holden only disliked those things as he got older. As for the rest of the family, it sounds like his parents haven’t contributed very positively to his emotional state. Phoebe saying that Dad will “kill” Holden probably means they aren’t hugely understanding. His mother seems on edge because of the fact that she’s described as always being nervous and smoking at night. As for the cigarettes at the end of the chapter, I think it shows us that Holden hasn’t changed. He’s been smoking since Pencey and now that he ran out, he just simply grabbed more. His emotional state isn’t getting any better.
ReplyDeleteI think that the cigarettes in the book represent a way of escaping his vertigo feelings. They give him something to focus on when his mind is jumbled up. I don't understand why something that is usually part of the adult world is Holden's way to escape. This considering his obsession with purity and childhood. I think that Holden is very similar to the way he describes his mother. I fell as if Holden is like the male version of how he describes his mother-"a nervous wreck that stays up smoking all night". Holden likes his siblings especially Allie and Phoebe. He also likes D.B. but not as much, mainly in part to the fact that he has "sold himself as a prostitute" to Hollywood (Holden finds movies and such as extremely phony things) I think that Phoebe in a way is more mature than Holden even though she is only a little girl. In chapter 22 when Holden is having a conversation with her she is the one who is staying rational the entire time. I don't think that Holden and his father have a good relationship. With the time period of the story being the 50's, a time when male emotions where not to be felt, and Holden's mental/emotional state, I dont think that his father understands him. The fact that Holden has been kicked out of private schools continually also puts a strain on their relationship.
ReplyDeleteI believe that his family is very similar to him. His mom also smokes cigarettes, and has not been in a healthy state of mind since Allie's death. Phoebe almost feels like a "mini-Holden" to me in all areas except her internal struggling. Her "voice", similar to Holden's in the book, runs on about the same subject, getting very excited when certain topics are brought up. One instance when she rambled on about a subject was when she was talking about the movie "The Doctor". She also has that sort of slightly pessimistic attitude that we see with Holden, like when she says that she is Benedict Arnold in her play and that it "stinks", although definitely not as much Holden. When he said that he was "all out", I think he might have been referring to the fact that his situation about being kicked out of school had been revealed. Maybe he was even referring to his emotions, as if he had run out of the ability to relax after Phoebe found out, so he grabbed some cigarettes to calm himself down. The fact that he went back to the cigarettes even after seeing Phoebe shows that although he tried to set something right, he feels as if he didn't, so he went back to smoking. This tells the reader that even though he has been trying, he may be taking a step backwards, because now Phoebe wouldn't even talk to him as he walked out. I think it very sad when he's almost begging her to come out of the covers. He calls her different nicknames, imploring her to come out and let him explain. I understand that Phoebe, in the next chapter, does open up to him, but at this moment it is sad to see what a state that Holden is in. This scene shows that even though he is in his home, with Phoebe, he still depends on cigarrettes to light his way through his emotional vertigo.
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