The Reader Within Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Sallinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” holds a fairly simple narrative on the surface, but one diving deep into details about the characters and their relationship with the reader. One of these connections that I noticed within the book are the otherwise easily overlooked connections between the main character, Holden, and both his sister, Phoebe, and the reader. These connections are highlighted through Holden’s language when speaking about both his sister and the reader separately and his displays of care for preserving the perspectives of the two beings alike.
In the later chapters in the book there is subtle evidence that Holden separates Phoebe in a similar way like the reader is his choice of words when describing her. Commonly, when Holden describes anybody to the reader he uses harsh words like “depressing” and language that suggests he believes they just don’t understand what hes saying. But with Phoebe, he is almost like a different person. He puts on the persona that he uses when speaking to the reader when speaking to her. At the start of chapter 22, Holden starts talking about Phoebe to the reader, stating “She always listens when you tell her something. And the funny part is she knows, half the time, what the hell you’re talking about. She really does.”. This section really contrasts with his opinions of all the other characters in the book. By bragging to the reader that she just knows what you’re talking about and understands it pretty quickly gives this feeling that in Holden’s opinion she is at the same level as us. Up until this point he kept up the consistent theme of telling the reader “You know.”(pg. 29) after describing an event or something that Holden assumes we relate to because we are sort of “in with him”. But with Phoebe, that same language is used except instead of You know it's She knows. This further suggests that Phoebe (in Holden’s view) is very similar to the reader because of that same separation from everyone else seen in both the treatment of the reader and the description of Phoebe from Holden.
Another aspect of Phoebe that I noticed relating to the reader Holden’s care for her perception of things. Throughout the book Holden will turn attention away or shine light to certain details of things (mostly people) of what he is experiencing to the reader. When it comes to Phoebe, he imagines her perspective about the things he sees, in a way similar to thinking about how he imagines us as the reader would react. Holden sees someone had written a curse on the wall of Phoebe's school and states, “I thought about how Phoebe…would see it, and how [she’d] wonder what the hell it meant” (pg. 108). Its very telling that Holden holds Phoebe to the same special “bond” he has with the reader. He uses very similar language except hes talking to us about Phoebe instead of talking about us to ourselves. This also relates to Holden making the reader feel like he cares about them, using language to suggest he is thinking about our perspective about what we see and don’t see within the story. Just like how he is caring so deeply about how Phoebe would react to certain things she may/may not see within his narrative. To Holden, Phoebe and the reader are one in the same.
Salinger, J.D. 1991. The Catcher in the Rye. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company
It's quite interesting that you bring up Holden's behavior around Phoebe as being the same, unfiltered reality that he presents to the reader. I most definitely agree and I feel like he uses both Phoebe and the reader as people he can vent his emotions to. The special care he has for her definitely contrasts with his regard for most people and I like that you brought that up as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa, I agree that Holden appears to talk to Phoebe and the reader in the same way. While it takes a little bit to notice since this kind of narration is happening the whole time, his inner thoughts suddenly become actual statements that he says out loud to Phoebe. I think part of the reason why he loves Phoebe so much is that he thinks that she relates to him and she definitely does. You can definitely tell that they have a similar way of viewing and talking about things.
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of my favorite parts about Holden and Phoebe's sibling relationship. He is so pessimistic and internally distant to most other people and events, but the second he's with her, its like his brain turns on and he finally tries to understand. I also think its especially telling that Phoebe is the only person he still interacts with whom he has only good things to say about. Both Allie and Jane hold a place in Holden's past, but Phoebe is still in his life yet he still talks about her in good faith.
ReplyDeleteHello Coming of Age-lyssa! I liked this blog post quite a lot. Holden Caulfield is a character that to be honest I'm not the most fond of. Despite this, I can't help but admit that he has a very cute relationship with his sister. I liked your analysis about how Phoebe kind of embodies the reader in a way, and how Holden treats them the same, speaking to them with the assumption that they "know what he means". This was a great blog!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he's different with Phoebe as you mentioned because he wants to make sure that he won't say anything to change from an innocent kid in Holden's inner circle, and his consideration of her is motivated by his desire to stay close to her, unlike other people. I like how you bring up the reader in these situations because we get treated by Holden in such a way that we almost feel better than everyone else, and when we see Phoebe being treated like that too, it kind of makes us like her better (speaking for myself, I don't know if you guys like Phoebe).
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa! You bring up really good points about how Phoebe and the reader are synonymous in the context of Holden's trust to be authentic. When I was reading the book, I also found it interesting how he kept the same language and honestly when talking to Phoebe verbally as he did with the reader internally. I agree that this consistency definitely makes the reader feel special (which makes us more likely to trust Holden's depiction of reality). Great post!
ReplyDeletePhoebe is one of my all-time favorite characters, and I like how you suggest that Holden speaks to her in a way that is different from his style in every other interaction in the book--except for his constant interaction with the reader throughout the narrative. It's possible even to imagine that he has Phoebe in mind as he's telling the story (she's his "ideal reader"), and when you reread the novel it's striking how early he starts threading this idealized image of Phoebe into the story--long before she actually appears. I think of it as the main "test" for the reader, to see if WE really "get it" the way Holden insists we must: Holden really turns on the use of cordial second-person when he talks about Phoebe ("You should have seen her"; "I wish you could've been there"), and there's this sense that MOST people wouldn't see what's so special about her, but WE will surely get it. And for the most part, I think we do: she is a remarkably cool and funny and even WISE kid, and he probably should listen to her, especially when she's putting on the pressure. In their scene together, she asks him many of the same questions a reader might want to ask at this point, and her exasperation with his "crazy" answers also likely mirrors some readers' reactions. "You don't like anything that's happening!" sounds like a pretty on-point description of Holden, and it's funny when he tries to protest.
ReplyDeleteHello Alyssa!! You did a really good job at breaking down Holden's perception of Phoebe and its similarities to how the reader is treated. Their relationship was definitely one of the highlights of the book, and the way Holden described and treated her definitely helped humanize him after his quite unlikeable personality seen in the rest of the novel. Although Holden has always treated the reader well, it was also something I think a lot of people take for granted (Who'd expect the narrator to call their own reader phony?) and the more explicit depiction of this through Phoebe definitely helped show he wasn't all that bad. Great post!!
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