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Depression is a common feeling where emotions reflect unto ones personality, creating anger or sadness causing the person to isolate themselves from others. In J.D Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield struggles with his life. Ultimately, the character of Holden is depressed. His depression is seen in his inability to move on from his brother’s death, his constant rejection of change and growth, and his failure to commit. Holden unable to move on from his brother’s death, it reflects upon his actions and the way he handles situations. Holden’s brother Allie died of leukaemia three years before the beginning of the novel, the date being July 18, 1946. At the time, Allie was eleven years old and Holden was …show more content…
Holden assumes that he would get kicked out of Pencey Preparatory School, and before that could happen, he decided to leave the school. He had been kicked out of two schools before attending Pencey Prep. One can only assume that the reasons why he had been kicked out of the schools had been the same, due to the fact that he is very fond of his childhood and is immature. Primarily, Holden tells the reader that he is failing four classes, this could be one possibility. Another possibility could be the fact that he gets into many verbal and physical fights with others, simply because he does not get along with people in general. Holden has many chances at having a true friendship with people his age, but he usually speaks highly young children and believes they are smarter than adults, like his sister, Phoebe. It is easy to tell when he says, “You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your whole life... I mean she's had all A's ever since she started school...You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about.” (Put page number) When it comes to people his age, Holden tends to feel lonely because he thinks they are phony. His definition of phony is when someone does not fit into his perception of normal, which is usually when people show off, he believes it is unnatural to not act like themselves. Holden’s loneliness can be compared to the event at the beginning of the novel when the Pencey Prep students were watching the football game from the stands and he was watching it from Thomsen Hill, separating himself from everyone. Holden has tries to be friends with Ackley and Stradlater. Holden tries to get Stradlater to like him by complementing him by calling him a “very sexy bastard” (32) or a “handsome, charming bastard” (34), doing his homework, and letting him borrow his hound’s tooth jacket to wear on his date with Jane.
As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.
Holden’s life went through a major change at the age of 13 when his younger brother, Allie lost his battle to Leukemia. Holden fondly speaks of his red headed brother in the
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’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
However, his feelings suggest that the true reason for his depression is his loss of innocence. When he was 13 years old, he lost his little brother Allie to leukemia. Allie meant a lot to Holden. He even became a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling off the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet.
Not only does he feel alienated from the other kids at school, he also doesn’t get along with people in his family. The only person that Holden gets along with in his family is his sister. Throughout the novel Holden has a relationship with his sister. As shown in this quote from chapter ten. “But I certainly wouldn't have minded shooting the crap with old Phoebe for a while”(). Phoebe is the only person that Holden ever reaches out to in the novel. Holden likes and connects to Phoebe because of her innocence. Holden feels like he doesn’t belong when he gets to Penn Station. When Holden arrives to Penn Station he wants to call a family member or friend but he feel likes he has no one to call. For an example when Holden says “The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz … but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up”(). Holden doesn’t feel close to any friends or family members to give them a call. Holden feels this way a lot thought the story. Not belonging is a big theme in Catcher in the
From the protagonists’ point of view, the adult world Holden and Franny are entering and living in is a very superficial place. Holden who is sixteen years of age is going through a time of crisis where he is almost forced to become an adult. This concept is the very thing that makes Holden afraid, causing him to misbehave at school. His latest school, Pencey Prep, expels Holden due to his failing grades. When asked for the reason of his lack of academic enthusiasm, Holden simply states that he is not interested in anything. In every school he has attended, Holden has managed to find different reasons not to care and possibly even hate the institutions.
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he expresses this attitude through his dialogue, tone, and diction.
To Holden, everyone is either corny of phony. He uses these terms to describe what a person is if they do not act naturally and follow other people?s manners and grace. Holden dislikes phonies and thinks of them as people who try to be something they are not. He loathes people who showed off because it seems unnatural every time they do not act like themselves. Holden does not allow himself to have friendship because of his dull attitude. In the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Holden is lonely when he separates himself from the rest of the Pencey students by watching the football game from Thomsen Hill and not the grand stands. Holden is not a very sociable person partly because he finds himself better than many others. He dislikes his roommate because of his generic leather luggage. His next door roommate Ackley does not seem to want a friendship with him either. Holden finds Ackely?s zit crusted face ridiculous and doesn?t want him in his room at first. This shows the reader that Holden is a lonely person because he chooses to be lonely and does not want anything to do with people who do not fit into his perception of normal.
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.
Manic-Depressive Behavior Exhibited in The Catcher in the Rye. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Cawfield, a New York City teenager in the 1950's, as a manic-depressive. Holden's depression starts with the death of his brother, Allie. Holden is expelled from numerous schools due to his poor academics, which are brought on by his depression. Manic depression, compulsive lying, and immaturity throughout the novel characterize Holden.
Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives. However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness. This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Caulfield as a manic-depressive. Holden uses three techniques throughout the novel to cope with his depression. He smokes, drinks, and talks to Allie. Although they may not be positive, Holden finds comfort in these three things.
This is the first psychiatric hospital admission for the patient, a 17 year-old male. The subject freely admitted himself to care at 13:00 hours on November 28, 1958. Mr. Holden Caulfield arrived at the hospital in the company of his parents--whose consent was necessary given Holden's legal status as a minor--and his younger sister Phoebe. His induction took place without any incident.
He complains about his school, saying that it is just like any other school and uses language that makes him sound very obnoxious. Holden seems to focus on girls quite a bit, just like any other teenage boy. He seems to focus on one girl in particular, a girl named Jane. We soon learn that Holden’s personality is not your average personality. Holden does seem to have some friends but he does not fall into many peer groups with the type of personality he has. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. For this reason, he seems to play around a lot in the wrong situations. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. Holden’s resistance to emerging adulthood is the cause of many of the problems he is faced with during the