Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Holden's Relationship with Family and Friends - Coggle Diagram
Holden's Relationship with Family and Friends
Parents
"I figured my parents probably wouldn't get old Thurmer's letter saying I'd been given the ax till maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn't want to go home or anything till they got it and thoroughly digested it and all." PDF Page 33. Shows that Holden doesn't want to go home because they need to "digest" his expulsion before he comes home.
Anyway, she was somebody you always felt like talking to on the phone. But I was too afraid my parents would answer, and then they'd find out I was in New York and kicked out of Pency and all. PDF Page 43 Shows how Holden doesn't think his parents will understand his dilemma.
Relationship before/after Allie's death
"My brother Allie and I, if we were with our parents and all, we used to move our seats and go way down so we could watch him." PDF page 82
Holden had a good relationship with his parents before Allie's death.
"When the weather's nice, my parents go out quite frequently and stick a bunch of flowers on old Allie's grave." PDF Page 92
Allie helps bind Holden and his parents
"One thing about packing depressed me a little. I had to pack these brand-new ice skates my mother had practically just sent me a couple of days before. That depressed me."
PDF Page 33
Holden still loves his mother and feels bad that she is buying him skates while he is getting kicked out.
Analysis: Holden's relationship with his parents is the one that he needs the most but doesn't have. Holden is scared of his father throughout the novel and Phoebe also mentions how Holden's father would kill him if he figured out Holden got expelled and left Pency Prep. Holden's mother still hasn't found closure in Allie's death and Holden also talks about how she needs to digest something to take it well.
"You did. You did," she said. Then she smacked me again with her fist. If you don't think that hurts, you're crazy. "Daddy'll kill you!" she said PDF Page 92 Phoebe reaction to Holden expulsion
Siblings
"I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that's all I told D.B. about, and he's my brother and all." PDF Page 2
Holden doesn't tell D.B. the full story
“I mean she's had all A's ever since she started school. As a matter of fact, I'm the only dumb one in the family. My brother D.B.'s a writer and all, and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. I'm the only really dumb one.” PDF Page 43
Holden is different than all of his siblings as he is the only one who isn’t smart as he says.
"You did get kicked out! You did!" old Phoebe said. Then she hit me on the leg with her fist. She gets very fisty when she feels like it. PDF Page 98 Phoebe instantly was able to tell that Holden got kicked out
Phoebe is the only person that Holden only says good things about and doesn't call phony
Page 227, Phoebe tries to go with Holden but Holden does something noble and good for the first time and actually makes the best decision which is to make her not leave and to persuade her without making up full lies. He helps his relationship with Phoebe as he is sort of her mentor
Analysis: Holden's relationship with his siblings is different than his relationships with anyone else. These are perhaps his strongest relationships with people and we can see that at one point in the novel, Holden cherishes these relationships and interactions. While he has mixed stories about D.B., at the end of the book, he has clearly made up with D.B. and we can see that D.B. means something to Holden. With Phoebe, Holden always talks about her innocence and tries his best to maintain it when they are at the carousel. Holden deeply remembers Allie and talks to him sometimes. He feels bad inside that he wasn't able to attend his funeral and never was able to move on from Allies death, somewhat like his mother.
“Somebody'd written "F*ck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it,” PDF Page 120
“I have this one stupid aunt with halitosis that kept saying how peaceful he looked lying there, D.B. told me. I wasn't there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand.” PDF Page 92
I knew she wouldn't let old Phoebe come to my goddam funeral because she was
only a little kid. That was the only good part. PDF Page 92
What I did, I
started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. PDF Page 61
"Friends"
He was at least a pretty friendly guy, Stradlater. It was partly a phony kind of friendly, but at least he always said hello to Ackley and all. PDF Page 17
Holden belives that Stradlater is ok but is phony in his manner of talking to people which is exactly like Holden.
You remember I said before that Ackley was a slob in his personal habits? Well, so was Stradlater, but in a different way. Stradlater was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for instance, you should've seen the razor he shaved himself with.” PDF Page 17
Holden's critique about stradlater and Ackley being slobs
Holden often describes people as a pain in the a** after he meets them. He calls Sally and Carl Luce this in the novel.
Analysis: Holden always critiques his friends and we can see throughout the book his lonely feelings. While he always knows people and remembers old people from his past, he was never really friends with these people. You can sort of say that he never had a decent relationship with them or that they were all phony.