ming obsessed, Franny is acting as self-centered as the people against which she battles. For Holden, on the other hand, it is the innocence of Pheobe, contrary to the scornfulness of Zooey, which persuades Holden that there is in fact a balance between untainted aspects of society as well as less than perfect ones. In this way, Pheobe succeeds in changing Holden’s outlook. Rather than focusing solely on the negative facets of a situation, Holden learns to take all parts into account, and not to become discouraged. Lastly, Franny and Holden can be compared and contrasted through their inner thoughts. Franny often finds herself feeling remorseful for her personal trivial harms, such as when she asks her boyfriend for the olive in his martini. When she realizes that “she didn’t want the olive at all and wondered why she had even asked for it,” (13) Franny suddenly becomes distracted and upset at her selfish interruption of her boyfriend’s conversation. Ironically, this means that Franny pays even less attention to what her boyfriend, Lane, is saying. Much like her reciting of the prayer, Franny own guilt often results in exactly what she rails against. Like Franny, Holden is the source of much of his own unhappiness. He too feeds his depression by focusing on anything unsatisfactory. Holden successfully finds the heartache in the most innocent of things: nuns asking for charity, a young couple holding hands, and even ducks at a pond. Moreover, in order to cleanse herself of what she sees as evil, Franny compulsively repeats the prayer, ”Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This illustrates that Franny consciously finds herself at fault. Holden, however, lacks the insight required to see that he augments his own terrible depression. Even after being thrown out of multiple schools, he continues to insist that it is the system, not himself, which has failed him.J.D. S...
