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The Catcher in the Rye Youth Quotes Page 3
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Old Phoebe didn't even wake up. When the light was on and all, I sort of looked at her for a while. She was laying there asleep, with her face sort of on the side of the pillow. You take adults, they look lousy when they're asleep, but kids don't. Kids look all right. They can even spit all over the pillow and they still look all right. (21.10)
Holden finds nearly everything to be more appealing in children than adults. We've seen it in conversation and in personal connections, and now we see it even in physicality and appearances.
She has about five thousand notebooks. […] I opened the one on top and looked at the first page. […]
Why has south eastern Alaska so many caning factories?
Because there's so much salmon
Why has it valuable forests?
because it has the right climate.
What has our government done to make
life easier for the Alaskan Eskimos?
look it up for tomorrow!!!
Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield
Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield
Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield
Phoebe W. Caulfield
Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield, Esq.
Please pass to Shirley!!!!
Shirley you said you were sagitarius
but your only Taurus bring your skates
when you come over to my house
[…] I can read that kind of stuff, some kid's notebook […] all day and all night long. Kid's notebooks kill me. (21.15-19)
Holden has a point – this is the least phony expression of thought we've seen so far in the novel. What makes this notebook so appealing is its lack of pretension and falsity; Phoebe simply wrote exactly what she was thinking. Check out "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for some nifty digressions on this.
While I was waiting around for Phoebe in the museum, right outside the doors and all, these two little kids came up to me and asked if I knew where the mummies were. The one little kid, the one that asked me, had his pants open. I told him about it. So he buttoned them right up where he was standing talking to me – he didn't even bother to go behind a post or anything. He killed me. (25.21)
This is something else that Holden prefers about children to adults: they never worry about being embarrassed. These boys are entirely unconcerned with appearances – a refreshing change from the "phonies" Holden has been surrounded by in the adult world.
