Catcher In The Rye Adolescence

The Catcher in the Rye, a 1950’s work of fiction by J.D. Salinger, details the story of a young male, near 16 years old, who is somewhat lost in his society. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines society as, “companionship or association with one's fellows.” However, Holden, the protagonist under examination, seems to have a very small amount of true companions. As the storyline plays out, Holden is mostly on his own, inside his head, feeling a strong disassociation with the other characters in the book. Only few characters make actual, meaningful contact with him, and allow him to feel meaningful emotions; this only happens in few points during the book, when he is anchored to someone, instead of aimlessly drifting through the world like

He seems to suffer from heavy post traumatic stress, and after losing his brother to leukemia and witnessing the death of a peer at Elkton Hills, one could expect nothing less. Throughout Holden’s life he grapples with the aftereffects of young death, and becomes haunted by the idea of loss, especially in children. When his Elkton Hills classmate James Castle jumped out of the window of a building to escape torment, the students gathered around and stared at the body. Holden recounts that no one approached James until one of his teachers, Mr.Antolini, covered the body up with his jacket and took it away. This scene relates to a far earlier scene in the book, when Holden says, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (117). At this point in time he was clearly contemplating suicide, which he stated ever-so-nonchalantly, and furthermore, it was only the thought of being gawked at, like James Castle was, that kept him from the edge. Holden witnessed all of these “phony” Elkton Hills students stare at a dead body and do nothing, an experience that

His constant use of the word ‘phony’ to describe almost everyone he sees reflects the lack of genuine personalities that he finds in the outside world. Everything that could be considered one of society's ideals is deemed ‘phony’ in Holden’s eyes, showing how far his mind strays from these norms. Having minimised contact with people he sees as authentic can only add to his feelings of loneliness, thus furthering the decline of his mental state. In addition, his increased use of the word ‘depression’ or phrase ‘feeling depressed’ proves how often he has these feelings. These changes in language reflect his mind itself, and the beginning of his, “terrible, terrible fall.” (206) as his teacher Mr.Antolini puts it. Furthermore, the symbols used in the story relate back to his ideas, and thoughts of society. For example, the idea of this catcher in the rye persona that he has created in his head. He explains to Phoebe,
"I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. 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 from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd