Depression is present in a majority of people. There is a plethora of depressive disorders. The commonality amongst depressive disorders is a mood of sadness, emptiness, and irritability, which is “accompanied by somatic and cognitive changes” that greatly, affects the person’s ability to function (Depressive Disorders). Also, According to the ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America), a majority of the depressive episodes include symptoms like guilt, worthlessness, helplessness, problems with concentration and remembering in order to make decisions. By reviewing various novels and films where depression is prevalent, the two characters that come to mind are Holden Caulfield, the main character in the novel Catcher in the Rye and …show more content…
Painful experiences like death of a loved one, unemployment, and divorce can easily cause an individual episode of depression. According to large surveys, around 44 percent of depressive encounters that relates to “interpersonal loss” such as death of a loved one. When Holden was younger, at the age of thirteen, his younger brother, Allie, passed away from Leukemia at the age of eleven. The night of his death, Holden demolished all of the garage windows with his fist, resulting in him staying overnight in a hospital. For example, “They were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I do not blame them. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of …show more content…
These depressive symptoms led to Charlie having a mental breakdown. Charlie assumed that the death of his Aunt Helen was his responsibility and constantly replayed the night of her death in his mind. After his best friend passed away, Charlie had a hard time of searching for his sense “to be” because he kept repressing everything that was a constant reminder of his pain. Charlie tried to join his sister’s clique, but that did not work because they thought of him being another person and not as a friend. He tried to please everyone, but when he did not succeed, he would blame himself. The death of his best friend and aunt kept Charlie from having a close relationship with anyone because he might lose them. For example, at first he was scared to befriend Sam and Patrick because he did not know if they would accept him, and if they did become friends, he was scared that they would not stay his friend. In addition, Charlie had flashbacks and blackouts, along with trying to search his sense “to be” and fear of having a close relationship with someone. For example, whenever he was with Sam and they are about to have sexual intercourse, he had a flashback of his Aunt molesting him at the age of five. These events lead up to his
Nineteen million American adults suffer from a major case of depression (Web MD). That is a staggering one in every fifteen people (2 in our classroom alone). Holden Caulfield is clearly one of those people. Depression is a disease that leads to death but is also preventable. Psychology, stressful events, and prescription drugs are causes of depression. Stressful events brought on Holden’s depression. Holden has been trying to withstand losing a brother, living with careless parents, and not having many friends. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that takes us through the frazzled life of Holden Caulfield, who appears to be just a regular teen. But by hearing his thoughts and through heart-wrenching events in the book, the reader learns that Holden is not the innocent boy that he once appeared. In his book, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger shows that Holden’s depression is not only affecting him, but also the people around him through Sally, Phoebe, and Sunny.
Holden Caulfield is a typical depressive teenager that exhibits negative views about growing up. Depression is made up of many categories of symptoms, such as emotional, physical, behavioral, and how one perceives life. These symptoms, take over Holden, due to his lack of knowledge on how to control his feelings.
Enduring a tragedy often leaves one with feelings of depression. These effects could include loss in interest, hopelessness and feelings that things will never get better. Depression is more likely when you have had great losses, such as a family member (Common Reactions After Trauma). Another effect is changes in ones’ usual behavior. This could include not doing something that is routine of them or different feelings (Osofsky). These symptoms apply both to Holden, from The Catcher in the Rye, who lost his younger brother, and May, from The Secret Life of Bees, who lost her twin sister. Due to their losses, they both feel great despair and act out. Holden often describes himself feeling lonely, like nobody understands him. He even goes on dates with girls he has no interest in. Having been kicked out of multiple schools, he loses all interest in his grades or what his teachers think of him. He also does things that are not like him; he goes out to bars and attempts to buy alcohol. Also unlike him, he pays money for a stripper which he doesn't end up having sex with. Holden explains that he is feeling “more depressed than sexy” (Salinger 93-98). May Boatwright also shows signs of depression, and changes in her usual behavior. Since her twin sister died, May was never the same. She became depressed and carried the weight of the burden. He...
In J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield exhibits many symptoms that can be directly linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, as well as other forms of grievance. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental illness which generally implicates exposure to trauma from single events that oftentimes involve death. It is frequently divided into three main categories: Reliving the Past, Detachment and Agitation. When analyzing the novel itself, it can be viewed as one large flashback in which Holden is constantly reflecting on past occurrences: “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy” (Salinger, 1). It is a mental illness that can sometimes occur in teenagers as a response to a sudden traumatic experience or abandonment.
At this stage of the story we are compelled to feel a little bit sorry for Charlie who has been separated from his father.
People’s shortcomings cause them to look at themselves and the environment around them, Holden does this multiple times throughout the book. “It’s a funny kind of yellowness, when you come to think of it, but it’s yellowness, all right. I’m not kidding myself,” (100). Holden doesn’t delude himself into thinking he’s perfect, which will allow him to better understand himself and his needs, but it also causes him some problems, like depression. Depression is said to ail everyone at least once at some point in their lives, Salinger makes it apparent that Holden is suffering it throughout the novel. “What I really felt like doing, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would have done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed,” (116-117). Depression and suicide are still present in today’s society, and unfortunately a part or many people’s lives, contributing to the American
When Charlie was really young, his Aunt Helen sexually abused Charlie up until her death. This causes as whole new set of symptoms for Charlie, including the PTSD categories of intrusion and avoidance. Charlie experiences flashbacks (dissociative reactions) of the nights that his Aunt Helen would violate him, and what was happening during that time. He has intense distress in response to reminders of this, which is evident when Sam touches Charlie 's hand, and then he remembers how his Aunt Helen used to touch his hand the same way before she would sexually violate him. Charlie also experiences avoidance symptoms, because he works hard in trying to avoid internal reminders of the
Holden Caulfield conveys his melancholy, sarcasm, and seclusion greatly through his dialogue; his vocabulary constantly consists of depression and loneliness. He expresses such agony all throughout the dialogue of the book. An example of this would be when Holden quotes, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (153). In this quote, Holden is expressing his confusion and unhappiness but mostly is just confused to why he is unhappy. He feels a severe amount of misery that devours him, all of which is shown greatly in all of his dialogue. He, at one point in the novel, feels like committing suicide because he cannot handle the pressure. He says that “I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep- I...
Every person has their own unique way of coping with situations in their life. The goal of coping is,“to deal effectively with something difficult” (OED). While there are many effective ways of coping there are also many ineffective ways to cope. Holden Caulfield , the protagonist The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, is a character who addresses stressful moments in his life with unhealthy coping methods. According to Sigmund Freud,a doctor who studied the human mind, Holden’s “ID” and “Super-Ego”, or his unconscious mind, was at conflict and the coping strategies that presented themselves through his actions, thoughts, and words were to deal with this internal conflict. An unhealthy coping strategy that Holden uses often is fantasy.
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...
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ? friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared.
J.D Salinger’s novel, Catcher In The Rye is about a teen, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the narrative. Holden is full of unique problems and most of the time lost in his own world, that can’t face reality. The psychoanalytic theory arranges a lens of definition when working at Holden Caulfield. Holden is seen as a lonely, rebellious teen who flunked out of an all boys private school, Pencey Prep. Failing school exemplifies how Holden controls his own decisions in the real world. As stubborn Holden is, opening up his persona and experiences to people is very hard for him, “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me…” (Salinger 1). From a Freudian psychoanalytical perspective Holden would seem to keep all his thoughts all bottled up, not speaking, and opening up to people. “The preconscious holds information we’ve stored from past experience or learning. This information can be retrieved from memory and brought into awareness at any time.” (Nevid 469). Holden is one step closer to becoming a better changed person by speaking to his psychiatrist, and there is only way to find out if he did.
To begin with, he had to bear seeing a dead girl's body, and then having to keep it from everyone else. Of course, Charlie ends up liking Laura's sister Eliza, and has to talk to her without telling her the truth about Laura. On top of all of that, Charlie finds his mom cheating with another guy, and has to endure that and keep pushing through with his dad. Imagine what it was like for Charlie to go through all that? What would you do if you were in Charlie's position and had to go through all of the things that
The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger is about a boy named Holden Caulfield and his struggles in one part of his life. Holden seem very normal to people around him and those he interacts with. However, Holden is showing many sighs of depression. A couple of those signs that are shown are: trouble sleeping, drinking, smoking, not eating right, and he talk about committing suicide a couple times during the book. On top of that Holden feel alienated plus the death of Holden’s brother Allie left Holden thinking he and no where to go in life.
In the movie it is not specifies what type of internalizing disorder Charlie had. A possible diagnosis Charlie could have been classified with is Post traumatic Stress disorder because of the trauma he felt after he was molested by his aunt. He feels guilty because of the death of his aunt, since she dies on Charlie’s birthday when she was going out to buy his birthday and Christmas present. Charlie always kept as a secret what his aunt Helen did to him, his parents find later when Charlie is already receiving treatment. Sometimes we can infer that Charlie doesn’t blame his aunt for what happened, but there are times where he states that he was glad his aunt had died in that accident. Some of the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder is