Chapter 21

In Chapter 21 of The Catcher of the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield sneaks to his apartment while his parents are at a party to visit his little sister, Phoebe. While he is talking to Phoebe, he is surprised to hear that she poured ink on the coat of the boy in her class. He is worried that she might be growing up into the world where everybody is mean. Holden does not want to lose Phoebe to that world because she is the only person left that is not "phony". Once Phoebe hears that Holden got expelled, she immediately gets upset because she feels that Holden will not have a future. She thinks that he is not living up to their parents' expectations and that he will hurt the family if he goes on the way he is. Phoebe shows that she is starting to get older not just from pouring ink on Curtis Weintraub's jacket (a bad thing) but she is now concerned about her family and not just herself (a good thing). Unlike Holden, Phoebe shows that there are some good things about becoming older.