Post-Traumatic Stress In Relation To Holden Caulfield Introduction Throughout life, an individual may endure emotionally and physically straining moments causing the person to become downhearted, and or irate. These feelings are normal, but may however become a problem when these feelings prohibit someone from living a ‘normal’ life. An estimated 5.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or approximately 3.6 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have PTSD (Narrow, Rae, Regier). This purpose of this report is to prove whether or not Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D. Salingers’s book The Catcher In The Rye, is depressed. What Is A Depressive Disorder? Depression is a serious medical illness that negatively affects how a person conducts him/herself, and the way he/she think. Depression may include anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, manic depressions. People with a depressive illness cannot merely ‘pull themselves together’ and get better. About 5% of the population will have some form of a mental illness at some point in their lives. Half of these people will also have a substance abuse Whorpole 2 problem, according to statistics from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI. What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? Difficult situations are a part of life, and people everywhere must cope with difficult circumstances such as conflict in out lives. See Appendix 1 (Depression). But occasionally, people experience an event, which is so unexpected that it continues to have serious affects, long after it has happened. Like depression in general these events may include a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death to themselves or others. Also learning that a close friend is in danger or has died can cause this type of anxiety disorder (What Is A Depressive Disorder?). This condition is one of several known as an anxiety disorder. One significant event in Holden’s life that is a factor for his mental illness is the death of his brother Allie. When Holden found out, “[He] was only thirteen and they were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, the night [Allie] died, and [he] broke all the windows with [his] fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 39). Holden’s brother died of leukemia and at the time he did not know how to properly deal with the situatio... ... middle of paper ... ...work hard on it, because as of now, he is always talking about Allie as if he was still alive. There has also been a good deal of research on the use of medications for adults with PTSD, including research on the formation of emotionally charged memories and medications that may help block the development of symptoms (Gold, McCarty 151-62). Medications appear to be useful in reducing overwhelming symptoms of arousal (such as sleep disturbances and an exaggerated startle reflex), intrusive thoughts, and avoidance; reducing accompanying conditions such as depression and panic; and improving impulse control and related behavioral problems. The incomparable solution for Holden would be a combination of the two, psychotherapy and medication. One should not rely on just medication, because then the risk of addiction increases. If medication and psychotherapy and being used, the person will become more able to cope with the situations that the person may face, on their own. Conclusion The report was to prove that Holden Caulfield of J.D. Salingers’s book The Catcher In The Rye, is depressed. POINTS TO SUMMARISE REPORT: - - - - - - - CONCLUDING STATEMENT
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition that makes a person act unusual because of a significant, terrifying event that happened in their past, leaving them mentally scarred. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield suffers from a form of PTSD because his little brother died when he was younger. This event sends Holden through a psychological journey of alienation and isolation shown through six steps. War veterans are most commonly affected by PTSD because of the gruesome and horrendous things they witness on the battlefield. These tremendous horrors are incomparable to any experience a civilian might describe as terrifying. Much like war veterans, Holden Caulfield suffers from the many effects of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder shown through his behavior of alienation and does not properly handle the situation.
Although Catcher in the Rye was written over 60 years ago, Holden Caulfield is still a character that many teens can relate to because of his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, his need to rebel and his loneliness. Because of the death of his younger brother, Allie, Holden shows many signs of grief and PTSD including self harm, alcohol abuse and aggression, things that many people can relate to in one way or another. For example, when Holden is in his hotel room, he ponders the idea of suicide and tells the reader, “What I really felt like, though, was committing su...
In J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield is shipped off to boarding schools at thirteen years old after the tragic death of his younger brother Allie. After flunking out of three boarding schools, he takes a trip by himself to New York before he has to go home to his ignorant parents for Christmas break. During his trip, he struggles with the symptoms of clinicals depression. Holden Caulfield is socially isolated, irritable, restless, cries, smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, has hallucinations, thoughts of suicide and a lack of concentration which are some of the lasting symptoms that show he is clinically depressed.
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield shows signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As the novel progresses, one can see Holden’s actions reflecting a similar disorder, Depression. In most cases, PTSD is coupled with an underlying disorder also affecting them. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD is normally associated with hyper-anxiety that tends to occur after an terrible, traumatic experience. In Holden’s case, multiple events including his brother Allie’s death, and witnessing a gruesome suicide at Pency. Holden’s condition has suffered in respects of his schoolwork and stress put upon his relationship with his parents.
Early on in the novel, readers learn of the way Holden viewed his brother as a “terrifically intelligent” and “the nicest” family member before his tragic loss against leukemia at age 11 (37). Being only two years older than Allie, Holden experienced this death at a relatively young age, explaining his sudden change in thoughts towards life, since deaths of family members often cause an extreme amount of traumatic stress to an individual-especially to those who can not yet internalize what has
Some reasons why we can infer this is because throughout the novel he leaves clues that signify he is uncomfortable with changes and that he can not handle adult situations such as facing death, like that of his brother Allie. When his brother passed away of leukemia he quoted, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist...”. (Salinger 22/23) As a result of Holden’s actions, his parents thought that he needed to be psychoanalyzed. This supports the idea that Holden’s has not accepted his brother’s death and refuses to, just like adulthood.
Holden believes that facing adulthood and its responsibilities will ultimately lead to his loss of innocence. This leads readers to question whether in fact, Holden's actions are the result of depression or simply a boy gone mad. As can be seen, Holden has fallen into a deep depression after the loss of his brother (Allie). He becomes so injured and is unable to even attend Allie's funeral, this deepens the depression. He is often seen talking to his deceased brother, looking for guidance, as if his brother were still alive and by his side. This action alone, may change a reader's perception of Holden as simply a boy with depression, to a boy, who is in fact losing his mind.
Firstly, Holden fears the loss of those around him, whether by death or emotional abandonment. From a young age, Holden experiences what the feeling of loss is through the death of his younger brother, Allie. Allie died from Leukemia at only eleven years old and his death continues to affect Holden and he never gets over it. Through this tragedy, Holden not only loses Allie, but he also emotionally loses the rest of his family. His older brother, D.B., moves away to become an author and doesn’t keep in contact with Holden much, his father is always at work
Death also affects the mental state of many people, but Holden’s mind was deeply harmed by the death of his brother, Allie. His death heightened Holden’s dislike of change but life itself is change so Holden continued to back himself into a corner and his mind became more corrupted. The theme of death used his brother as a trigger for his possible mental illness. “...I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I thought I’d just go down, down, down, and nobody’d ever see me again”(217). Holden felt lonely and empty and, after reading this portion of the book, it became clear that his brother’s death greatly affected
Being unable to not get over his death, he clings onto every little thought, memory, and knowledge of Allie as he reminisces about him in his mind. For example, Holden struggles to find something to say for Stradlater’s task, “The thing was, I couldn’t think of a room or a house or anything to describe the way Stradlater said he had to have. I’m not too crazy about describing rooms and houses anyways. So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allie’s baseball mitt.” (49). From this quote, it seems as if Holden has lost sight of the world which then results into him being unable to comprehend or execute certain or simple activities. Holden also refers back to Allie as some sort of safe route because he does not know what else to do. Struggling to let go of Allie, Holden faces trouble in adapting to society, as he judges everyone he sees. When Allie died, Holden immensely expresses his emotions with actions, “ I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken… It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it and you didn’t know Allie. My hand still hurts me once in a while…” (50). In this quote, we can see the impact Allie has had upon Holden’s life. Holden’s reaction shows us that he deeply
One of the most broadly taught novels in Canada, J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye opens with a deeply troubled sixteen-year-old, Holden Caulfield, who has difficulty dealing with his personal life along with the loss of his innocence. Holden tells the story of his last day at Pencey Prep, in addition to his psychological meltdown in New York City. A full examination of The Catcher in the Rye displays that Holden Caulfield belongs in a “rest home” due to his Manic Depression, Compulsive Lying, and Post Dramatic Stress Disorder.
For instances, Holden describes, “I told him he was a child, so once in a while, now when I felt very depressed I keep saying to him, “Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet in front of Bobby’s house. Hurry up” (99). The regretful attitude Holden has can be caused by his guilty conscious because he feels horrible that he could not save Allie. The death of Allie can be seen to group itself with Freud’s conscious and unconscious; unconscious is where the “mind that lies outside the range of ordinary awareness and that holds troubling or unacceptable urges, impulses, memories, and idea” are found. Holden Caulfield is reminded of Allie throughout the book, the relationship they had can be assumed to be very strong. Salinger lets the reader enter the Holden’s memories he had with Allie as a child, first beginning with Allie’s baseball mitt and then to what Holden’s reaction was when Allie died. Salinger uses this technique to build a sense of pathos to invoke an emotional attachment to Allie’s character without truly involving the character. The depression Holden experiences allows him to profoundly think about Allie and what he could have done to help him, the guilt that is evoked within Caulfield shoes the weakness and the sadness he still has over Allies
“He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You'd have liked him…” (Salinger 38), Holden lets the readers know about his brother, Allie who passed away. He then proceeds to tell how he broke all the windows in the garage and slept there the day Allie died. Holden informs that his parents wanted to get him psychoanalyzed after that incident. This is may have been a leading factor to why Holden decides to alienate himself from people,and does not wish to form connections with others because that may lead to emotional pain like Allie’s death. Although his alienation protects him, it also harms him because like any other human, Holden needs human contact to not feel lonesome and
In brief, J.D. Salinger uses Holden’s interpersonal communications to emphasize his symptoms and struggle with PTSD, since his brother, Allie, died. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel J.D. Salinger wrote this novel to educate the general public about PTSD. After experiencing World War II, Salinger created Holden Caulfield to manifest the struggles people with PTSD go through. Understanding that The Catcher in the Rye created a glance at what it is like to have PTSD, gives the audience a better comprehension of Holden’s psyche and his
In addition to losing Allie, which was a traumatic enough experience for Holden, his parents were consumed in their own grief and failed to help Holden properly deal with the intense feelings he had. As seen in the following quote, Holden had a very dramatic reaction to the death of his brother, Allie.