Depression In J. D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye

In the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher writes about the depression of Hannah, a teenager, who faced depression until the effects took her life. Hannah is dead from the beginning of the novel, but she sends tape recordings to 13 people before she died. Each recording has a message for the listener explaining how one of them helped in the cause for her depression/death. Since each recording is in chronological order, it is clearly noticeable how Hannah’s depression increases as the novel proceeds. Similarly, in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden is suffering from depression just as Hannah was before she took her life. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main theme is depression’s occurrence in a teenager’s life.

In The Catcher in the Rye, the plot shows the occurrence of depression in Holden in different ways. A few different occasions throughout the novel showcase Holden saying rude statements directed at himself. During Holden’s stay at the hotel in New York City, Holden mutters, “The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I wasn't sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead”(Salinger 90). Holden clearly shows signs of depression as he believes that life is not worth living any longer.

From saying that he wants to kill himself to dissing everyone who has different beliefs than him, it is shown that he is suffering from depression. From the time the novel begins, till the novel ends, many different examples of a state of depression are apparent. In the novel Thirteen Reasons Why, Hannah was suffering from depression just like Holden does in Salinger’s novel. Depression is a part of some people’s life that can be truly menaceful and degrading as it is shown in Holden’s and Hannah’s