Why does Holden become upset when he sees someone has written "fuck you" on the wall at Phoebe's school?

Holden is waiting for Phoebe's lunch break at her school when he sees something written on the wall. He finds out it says "fuck you", he becomes upset and wipes it off. There could be many people who had written it, but Holden believes it was a phony. Someone trying to impress his friends or an older kid, trying to take away the young children's innocence. Holden is Phoebe's older brother, so of course he doesn't want her to see it, but he also wants to protect all the other kids from falling off the cliff, and losing their innocence. Holden becomes upset because no matter how many times he erases the "fuck you"s, ten other people will write it again.

Analyze the Wilhelm Stekel quote.

"The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." -Wilhelm Stekel

immature-emotionally undeveloped; juvenile; childish
mature-completed, perfected, or elaborated in full by the mind
nobly-courageously; bravely; gallantly
humbly-not proud or arrogant; modest

Wilhelm Stekel is referring to the difference between people. A person who is childish wishes to die and be thought of as a hero, as someone others should look up to. Someone who is fully developed in the mind wishes to live for change, and not to be thought of as brave or heroic,but as someone who was able to see something wrong, and change it.

What is the significance of the poem?

Holden tells Phoebe that when he had to think of something that he would like to do for the rest of his life, he thought of the poem. Holden told Phoebe, "What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out of somewhere and catch them."(Salinger, 173). Holden talks about children going over the cliff and he has to protect them. The cliff may represent loss of innocence, or becoming a phony, and Holden must catch them, or stop them from losing their innocence and becoming phony. The poem represents everything Holden stands for, he wants to protect the innocent and stop them from becoming everything he hates.

Why is it so hard for Holden to find something that he genuinely likes?

Holden hates anything that is fake. If people pretend to be some one they aren't, he won't want anything to do with them, but he is surrounded by phonies. Stradlater, Maurice, and Sally all are pretending to be something they aren't. Holden can think of two people he actually likes and both of them are dead. One he barely knew, but he realized that he was brave in the sort amount of time he got to know him. The other was Allie, Holden's brother, who died of leukemia. Of all the people he has met, Holden could only think of two he genuinely liked because everyone else pretended to be someone they weren't. Holden can't even pretend to like someone who can't be themselves.

Why does Holden think of children and adults differently?

Holden thinks that anyone that has been exposed to the bad in the world is no longer innocent. He believes that as soon as you are no longer innocent that you are a phony and Holden despises phonies. Adults are not considered innocent to Holden, excluding the nuns he met in the diner, they are all trying to impress people with their money, looks, or knowledge. Children don't care about that, they want some one who will be their friend, not try to impress them with their superior knowledge. Children are innocent, and adults aren't. What makes Holden depressed is that the older people write bad things on public places and try to take away children's innocence. Holden wants to protect the children from the phonies, in an effort to keep them innocent.

When Holden is drunk in the park why does he begin to think of what would happen if he were to die?

Holden is in the park, in winter, at night. He is cold already, but then he thinks of the duck and how if they were there they must be cold, too. Holden begins looking for the ducks by the water and he almost falls in multiple times. He gets a bit wet and is now freezing. He sits down on a bench and thinks of how he may get pneumonia. He's worried about that,but stays on the bench and thinks of his family. Holden questions how they would react to his death. He knows D.B. and his father will grieve, that his mother is still not over Allie's death, and that his sister would probably never get to go to his funeral because she's a kid. Then Holden gets angry because if he dies all his phony relatives will come to his funeral, like with Allie, and pretend to grieve his loss without ever really knowing him. He takes out his money and counts it, then he goes home to see Phoebe.

Why does Holden choose to pay more attention to a woman in the theater than the actual movie?

Holden was uninterested in the movie to begin with, but then he saw a woman who was crying during the entire movie. He thought the movie was unrealistic and extremely phony, but the woman, with a child who needed to use the restroom, was believing the whole thing. She was only proving to Holden how phony she really was. She was crying throughout the movie, so some people may think she was, but with Holden being right there he knew she was a phony because her kid had to go to the bathroom and she would tell him to behave himself.Holden found this phony woman to be more interesting than the movie and he felt bad for the little kid.