Imitating a Legend

I think we can all agree that Holden Caulfield's narration of his week around Christmas is one of the most famous weeks for a teenager in literary history.  His voice is also very distinctive.  This weekend I've been working on the extra assignment trying to write a reflective response to Portrait in Holden's voice.  At first I was leaning towards doing just a standard plain voice and throw in lots of "and all" "goddam" and "that depressed me."  Until I started writing I hadn't looked to much into the voice-sure I knew it sounded different, a little older and slightly more elevated voice than Gunnar Kaufman's, but that what made it different was the words he loved to use.  I wrote two sentences, two sentences, before I realized that it's the whole way Holden looks at things, like how he doesn't mind digression, or he repeats an idea when he gets really excited by the idea that makes his voice so distinctive.

Then as I started writing and I was forced to make another decision.  As Mr. Mitchell said in class we had to decide which style of speech we wanted Holden to be speaking in.  I didn't want him to speak in such a conversational tone as in Catcher, it's supposed to be a school essay and all.  I read over the scene with Mr. Antolini, and in it they are witty and speak to each other more in a peer way than a student to teacher dynamic.  I decided to go with a semi-conversational tone for Holden because while he wouldn't be one to follow every guideline as to appropriate essay writing, he also is doing it for a grade for a teacher he cares about.  Once I started writing in his voice, it became easier to write in his voice, I almost didn't have to think about writing in a different voice than my own because it was a very natural voice.  It really just flowed, and once it did, it was really enjoyable to write in his voice.

A Sister's Influence

Towards the end of The Catcher in the Rye, Phoebe pretty much dominates Holden's thoughts.  There is the scene with Mr. Antolini, and the scene with the two little kids at the museum (looking for the toons) but the rest of the last few chapters are devoted to Holden's interactions with Phoebe.  Even before we ever meet her Holden tells us about her.  He obviously cares a lot about his family, he brings up Allie and D.B. a lot and he seems to not want to distress his mother, but he really focuses on Phoebe.  At first it seemed a little strange to me, a six year age difference at that point in his life is a big deal.  We see how his age ostracizes him from the kids at the playground when he goes to look for her.  He knows he's too old to really hang out with them, and they definitely know it, but with Phoebe it's just different.  When he breaks down in her room, the way he describes it makes her almost appear to be the older sibling, she's comforting him on the edge of the bed as he struggles to control himself.

People in class threw around the idea that she represents the aspects of childhood that Holden wants to keep a hold of in his attempt to avoid the phoniness he equates with being an adult.  While I agree that Holden wants to keep alive his childhood by being with her, I think her personality has a large part to do with it.  If you look throughout his week that Catcher covers, almost all of his complaints are about the different traits of people in his life.  Holden is annoyed by Stradlater because he is a secret slob as he puts it (27), the girls at the club because only one of them can really dance (74), and then Sally and Sunny because they aren't good conversationalists (96,128).  Then, when it seems like Holden can't find anyone who matches all his criteria, we meet Phoebe.  He tells us she's really smart, a great dancer, can lie through her teeth, and she can clearly keep up with him in any conversation (165,175,177).  Phoebe is the opposite of practically everything Holden dislikes in other people.  By spending time with her, he can reaffirm to himself that not only is childhood more real than adulthood, but that there are people out there who are everything he's looking for in another person.