Now that the dust has settled, did Holden really rape his sister Phoebe?

Now that the dust has settled, did Holden really rape his sister Phoebe?

This a dumb meme.

Too much subtext and critical thought required for you, huh?

I googled this and it is actually only on Veeky Forums.

For those who doubt that Holden rapes his sister, Phoebe, consider that the novel closes with him watching his sister on a carousel. Think about the slow, intimate, up and down motion of a carousel. This wouldn't be the first time that wooden horses were used to symbolize some aspect of sexuality. In "The Rocking Horse Winner" DH Lawrence uses a rocking horse as a symbol for masturbation. Still not convinced? Now consider that decades ago when film directors weren't allowed to show sex on screen, to imply sex between two characters they'd often pan to a shot of ocean waves, whose back and forth motion aren't that different from the up and down motion of a carousel.

Does anal count as incest?

I think the carousel is more supposed to be a symbol of childhood innocence, not sex.

Well it could be a dual symbol of childhood with sexual undertones. Sexual transformation is the hallmark of the change from childhood to adulthood

>Sexual transformation is the hallmark of the change from childhood to adulthood
And keep in mind how resentful Holden is of childrens' loss of innocence, so if it really is a dual symbol as you say then it further advances Holden as a tragic character.
Would Salinger really need to symbolize childhood innocence in the same moment that he's depicting an innocent child?

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Pretty sure the carousel's round-and-round motion was supposed to convey stasis in the innocent mentality of youth, but not necessarily innocence itself. It symbolizes Holden's ideal view of life (alluded to in his dream of rye), which explains why he's so moved by it.

I like how this wall of shitext mentions million "subliminal" things, but doesn't mention the fact that Holden was probably molested as a younger child. This is strongly implied when Mr Antolini touches his hair and he remembers how perverted things like that had happened to him in the past.

He's sexually traumatized by the molesting, so that's the reason why he doesn't want sexual intercourse at all.

He loved his brother too. Did he also rape his brother?

Been a while since I read it but to the best of my recollection
>explains his self-loathing
His self-loathing could be from a lot of things, his academic failure, his feeling of being out of place from his peers, his lack of friends.
>explains the double meaning of catcher in the rye
This is the only even remotely reasonable thing here, but this can ultimately be attributed to the novel's themes of not accepting loss of innocence.
>explains his guilt over his brother's death
What? No it doesn't
>explains his inability to complete sex with women his own age
Aren't all the women he encounters older than him? Also, this doesn't really mean anything about Phoebe necessarily, really grasping at straws. The whole theme of the book is his inability to cope with the loss of innocence. This is much more likely a manifestation of that.
>explains his fear of older male sexual interest
When is this fear expressed? He expresses distaste towards "flitty" (homosexual) men which seems like a fairly standard thing to be distasteful of as a teenage boy those days.
>explains why a burgeois family chose psych over military school
They send him to psych because he can't accept the death of his brother. Seems you're drawing that one from nowhere.

lots of non-sequiturs and critically illogical points made in this "genius interpretation"

>They send him to psych because he can't accept the death of his brother. Seems you're drawing that one from nowhere.

They sent him to psych because he attempted suicide. He lied about broking all the windows with hand. He slit his wrist. But yeah, he was agitated because of his brother's death.

This is a good post.

I couldn't help but read this in Donald Trump's voice

why was this book good again?
it was awful, just like A Separate Peace.
great the main character is a psychopath, me too hurray!

I still don't believe Antolini was coming on to Holden or had done anything to him in the past. I've always thought it was Holden's pure sexual anxiety and confusion projected onto Antolini's expression of fatherly love.

It perfectly captures adolescence. I don't know how people hate it so much.

Read some articles online. There are clues that Antolini was homo etc. At least this speculation is more likely than that of Holden raping his sister.

That's how he died. He died of too much raping

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No. He got raped by the professor. Or at least molested

How is Holden a psychopath?

The same way all kids and Russians are
They just don't know any better