Holden Self Quotes
Holden also has an unstable sense of self. His unstable sense of self is depicted in a few ways. First is his relationship with his little sister Phoebe. He says “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring you have to let them do it, and not say anything” (273). In this quote in a way he saying let them be adventurous they will learn from their mistakes. He acts this way towards his little sister because he is trying to give her the childhood he didn’t get to experience. You can tell that kids have a certain place in his heart. For example anything that was said about his younger brother Allie was positive, also how he took Phoebe to the carousel and finally when he helped a little girl at the park tie her skates and the 2
…show more content…
He’s trying to justify his actions to a little kid, and he wants her approval, that’s why he’s trying to convince her. He tends to focus too much time on the negative and none on the positive. His little sister Phoebe challenged him to find one thing that he liked and he couldn’t and he couldn’t even do that. “You don’t like anything that’s happening’’ (220). “You can’t even think of one thing” (222). If you were someone who was confident and not insecure you wouldn’t need to prove yourself to a little kid. You would learn how to conquer your challenges by yourself one step at a time. Despite how good his relationship was with his little sister that was not how is relationship was all the other women in the book. Despite all these examples a side of him is shown that was not very expected. “I keep picturing thousands of little kids and nobody’s around them- I mean –except me. And I’m standing on the edge of a cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. That’s all I’d do all day. I ‘d be the catcher in the rye” (224). This quote shows that he is meant to be a protector and that’s why he treats his sister like that, because he is trying to protect her from the bad things and to give her an amazing childhood that he supposedly never
He’s trying to justify his actions to a little kid, and he wants her approval, that’s why he’s trying to convince her. He tends to focus too much time on the negative and none on the positive. His little sister Phoebe challenged him to find one thing that he liked and he couldn’t and he couldn’t even do that. “You don’t like anything that’s happening’’ (220). “You can’t even think of one thing” (222). If you were someone who was confident and not insecure you wouldn’t need to prove yourself to a little kid. You would learn how to conquer your challenges by yourself one step at a time. Despite how good his relationship was with his little sister that was not how is relationship was all the other women in the book. Despite all these examples a side of him is shown that was not very expected. “I keep picturing thousands of little kids and nobody’s around them- I mean –except me. And I’m standing on the edge of a cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. That’s all I’d do all day. I ‘d be the catcher in the rye” (224). This quote shows that he is meant to be a protector and that’s why he treats his sister like that, because he is trying to protect her from the bad things and to give her an amazing childhood that he supposedly never