Holden's Depression in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

8. Timothy Findley "The Wars". Published by Penguin books and Copyright 1977. Pg 96. 9.

Then he realizes he is alone, but it is too late. The reality is finally realized yet Willy cannot handle it because he has avoided handling it for so long. The pile of unsolved problems is too much and Willy is destroyed. There are many troubling issues Willy faces throughout the play. His lack of success and work and his troubled family relationships hurt him.

In his mind, he is a loser and a failure. He does not have a job or even one person to share his happiness and sadness with. He won 't be able live in his potential if he continues to think of this way about himself. This is a humanistic approach because Philip is having a difficult time with life because he thinks negatively of himself- whether he realizes it or not. The following approach is cognitive.

This is how he talks throughout most of the novel; more specifically about how everyone is a phony and he can’t really stand anyone and how he also never wants to be a part of the adult world. So to solve all of these problems Holden could die young and not have to worry about any of that anymore. Holden is a boy with good intentions in mind, but due to multiple traumatic events he has faced he is unable to act upon these intentions and dreams, making him a hero in his dreams but an antihero in the reality of Catcher in the Rye.

He is a very impassive adolescent, he does not want to get attached to anyone because of he trust issues. He does this because he had a scathing childhood and most of his thoughts have become unconscious. According to Freud's theory, " Unconscious state- reveals conflicts of protagonist and sometimes creates and/or transferred from the author's own troubled states"(Freud1). Holden is his own problem.He has the opportunity to leave his past behind him, but instead he chooses to let it affect him in his future, that causes trouble for him as he approaches his academics with flunking out, fa... ... middle of paper ... ... hurt him deeply and horribly over the years of his childhood. His education does not seem to matter to him either, he thinks that as long as they he can keep moving forward in life, you won't need school.

Salesman Willy Loman is in a crisis. He is about to lose his job, he can't pay his bills, and his sons Biff and Happy do not respect him and cannot seem to live up to their potential. He wonders what went wrong and how he can make things up to his family. The story is revealed through Willy's illusions-where much of story is told- so in consideration of the audience, it is possible that the events have not occurred the way they are seen, though the audience has no idea since they are seeing it through Willy's eyes. Willy is so depressed that he does not know what he is doing, he's got bills, insurance, etc to pay and cannot seem to find a way he can do all this.

Holden distanced himself by wearing this hat. Holden doesn’t want to be a part of the society and created this symbol to isolate from it. Throughout the novel, Holden leaves hints insinuating that he is distancing himself from people and society through his actions and decisions. Holden shows his hate towards the adult world by mentioning “phoniness” throughout the book, insinuating that he will never be like this, even though it’s impossible. His constant failing at school evidences that he isn’t planning to have a common future by having a job like most people would.

Instead though, because he puts himself in melancholy moods due to his personality, improper feelings or by running away from his problems, it is also believed that Holden is undeserving of this sympathy. It is difficult to feel sympathy for the distraught protagonist because the reasons for his dreariness are all self-induced. To elaborate, one of the reasons Holden is unfit for sympathy is his personality. Throughout his coming of age, he often gives up and is lazy, tells lies or makes excuses. To begin with the former, Holden gives up on his schooling.

I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me." (89), that Carton is a depressed man with no self-esteem. In his conversation with Sydney, he goes on about his countless amount of chances he had to better himself, but just never had the energy to actually follow through with it. The way that Carton is affected by society is that, he feels that he should be unhappy so he is unhappy. He explains that he was not always happy, but now he feels that life has nothing to offer him and he is useless, “Sydney Carton, idlest and most unpromising of men.” (91) Sydney Carton had always been the brains behind Stryvers acts in court, but was never recognized because he didn’t feel the need to be recognized.

Holden feels the absence of love, which causes him to suffer a variety of emotional problems. Holden needs direction in his life because he constantly struggles to find the meaning of life on his own. Schools kick him out because he is not able to focus with all these issues in his life. With all this pressure he faces, Holden escapes from consciousness in what appears to be a psychological defect, but is just a severe lack of control in his life. “After I got across the road, I felt like I was sort of disappearing.