Re: I luv Holden
Cheryl Cline (ccline@uclink4.berkeley.edu)
Thu, 02 Jul 1998 22:49:57 -0700
I don't think Phoebe is an actual betrayer either. I just think that
Salinger threw out Benedict Arnold's name as a hint to let us know how
Holden was reacting, or, as you said, overreacting. Phoebe was acting
out of concern for Holden by punching him in the arm and being mad at
him-but she was expressing it in the way that a lot of little kids
would. To Holden, though, Phoebe's actions probably seemed like a
betrayal, especially after he had been feeling rejected by everyone
else, and after glorifying her all the way home from Pencey Prep. She
doesn't really betray him-she wants to run away with him, for crying out
loud-but in his state he seems to see her as Benedict Arnold.
J J R wrote:
I can see Holden "feeling" betrayed by Phoebe's actions,
> but I think her actions weren't objectively a betrayal in the sense that
> Benedict Arnold's actions were. I think Holden was genuinely off the
> deep end in wanting to run from everyone--it wasn't so much mental
> illness in my thinking, but rather a case of adolescent overreaction.
Yeah, Phoebe does show some other truths to Holden, like the real words
to the Robert Burns poem.
He
> seemed to be looking at only one set of facts, and ignored the truths
> that Phoebe's mere presence should have revealed to him
Cheryl