Holden Caulfield Decline

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger shows his main character, Holden Caulfield’s internal decline by expressing it through his language and detail in order to exemplify it. He uses certain phrasing and characteristics to help readers understand the physical deterioration that leads to his struggles throughout the novel. Along with this, Salinger uses certain language, actions, and behaviors to demonstrate it as well. Due to this, his audience is able to better comprehend what Holden goes through internally and how that is portrayed in the novel.

As the novel begins, Holden discusses how he is currently in the process of being expelled from Pencey Prep. In the first chapter, Holden thinks back to a memory in which he is playing a game

To Holden, this question is perfectly rational as he just wants to know what happens to them and why people aren’t caring to find out. In the fourteenth chapter of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is recovering from his traumatic experience with Maurice and Sunny which resulted in him getting painfully beat up by Maurice. Holden’s physical state of being regresses considerably when he states, “What I really felt like though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (104). Not only does this show that Holden has repetitive thoughts of his own suicide, but it also can link back to the first chapter in which he talked about how he felt like he was disappearing. In a rather symbolic way, this also ties back in with needing the answer to his isitent question on the whereabouts of the ducks in Central Park. It also contributes to Holden’s deterioration because he, in a way, views himself as the ducks and only wants to be able to know who will help him, what happens to him next, or where he goes from here. Holden never gets the answer that he wants and constantly asks himself and others about it because he wants to know what will happen to them and