Holden is Phoebe's older brother and hero. She looks up to him and wants to be just like him. This is typical of many sibling relationships, although the Holden-Phoebe relationship starts to seem creepy after reading more into the book. Holden is around double her age, but still asks her for advice and unloads all of his problems onto her. She is too young to have to deal with his deranged teenage problems.
Phoebe is really important to Holden because he sees her as his only family, even though he has loving parents and an older brother. He is always thinking about her, which is kind of scary. I mean, he is at a boarding school with teenage boys full of antics, and all he can think about is his kid sister. This does not make sense at all and boarders on stalker-ish. Holden is always wanting to know what Phoebe is doing and who she is with. It is almost like he sees her as a possession that needs to be kept perfectly.
Very Weird.
I agree, Holden's relationship with Phoebe did seem creepy after awhile. I feel that Holden was the most normal when he was with Phoebe compared to the rest of the time. Phoebe was smarter than Holden, and she understood people's emotions better. Holden always thought about the past with Allie, Phoebe, and DB. It was very depressing when he talked to Allie even though he was dead. The whole story was very depressing and did not seem to have a point. The whole thing was just Holden complaining, and his pessimistic view bothered me. He should have applied himself to have a better life. I was glad that there was a positive ending, but I wanted to read more about when he went home with Phoebe.
ReplyDeleteI agree about their relationship. But I have to say... his opinion about her creeped me throughout the whole book. The way Holden affectionated Phoebe seemed... wrong to me. I mean, I understand older sibling loving his/her younger bro/sis because I have a younger sister. But the way Holden showed his affection did not seem like family love to me. In a way, I feel bad for him because he depended on a forth grader for advice.
ReplyDelete