Holden Caulfield Psychoanalysis

Many songs are written for the audience to relate to them. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield - an adolescent male who refuses to enter the adult world-, has qualities similar to those portrayed inthrough the lyrics of the rock band, Green Day’s Basket Case. The novel circumducts around Holden Caulfield whose story inaugurates from a mental institution where he is currently enduring treatment for his emotional collapse and subsequently his expulsion from his school, Pencey Preparatory Academy. Holden is a despondent teenage boy in mourningsuffering from the bereavement of his younger brother Allie, who died ofwas taken by leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Holden narrates his reclusive

Holden mentions that he breaks all the windows in his family’s garage because of his younger brother’s passing. Moreover, he continues to break the windows with his bare hands in defiance of his pulverized hands. Holden is beginning to demonstrate aberrant behaviour at this point. With Holden’s health in his parents’ cognizance, making the decision to get Holden psychoanalyzed. Although Holden has endured the loss of a loved one, his mind is not inheriting prudent decisions for him. Instead of coping with Allie’s death rationally, Holden is abusing himself to a point where his parents have come to the decision that he needs to seek medical assistance for his mental state. Holden connects to these lyrics since, like Armstrong, Holden views a skewed version of reality, preventing him from making rational

In Green Day’s Basket Case, the lyrics, “”I went to a shrink/ To analyze my dreams/ She says it’s lack of sex” (Armstrong - Green Day). The lyrics suggest that Armstrong had gonewent to a psychologist to cope with his paranoia. The popular rock band’s lead vocalist further states through his lyrics that his psychologist suggests that he dreams to stay in a place where he no longer belongs due to the lack of sex in his life. Psychologists, also known as psychoanalysts, scrutinize patterns in the human mind in order to consummate to a diagnosis. Being the son of a psychoanalyst, Carl Luce seems to be playing the role of one during his time with Holden at the bar. Holden’s similar demeanor to Billie Joe Armstrong’s is highlighted when he states, “‘Maybe I’ll go to China. My sex life is lousy,’ I said. ‘Naturally. Your mind is immature’” (Salinger 163). Holden’s aspiration to be what he has ultimately grown out of is evident when his friend Carl Luce notices his unacceptable behaviour and says, “‘Listen. Let’s get one thing straight. I refuse to answer any typical Caulfield questions tonight. When in hell are you going to grow up?” (Salinger 161). Holden feels that he should stay in his childhood, thus, not wanting to transition into the adult world and eventually evolving into a phony. He yearns to linger where he does not have to turn into a hypocrite, like the majority of the people