Lost in Past Moments

Holden Caulfield is an adolescent who is suffering in life and is isolated by the people around him. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is unsatisfied with his life and has no one that he is close with. The only person who he was close with was his younger brother Allie died of leukemia. This caused Holden to change in a negative way. The novel is told in first person by Holden. He opens the novel by saying “The first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like” (Salinger 1). From a psychoanalytical view point, Holden is referring to his unconscious state in Sigmund Freud’s theory. The unconscious state “holds troubling or unacceptable urges, impulses, memories, and ideas” (Nevid 469). Holden holds many memories that may be uncomfortable for him to share. This is a reason why Holden is falling apart. For Holden Caulfield, loneliness and depression happen constantly. He constantly points out something that’s depressing no matter what the situation is. When he leaves his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer, he wishes Holden good luck with his life. Holden thinks “It sounds terrible, when you think about it” (Salinger 16). Another situation Holden finds depressing is when he meets two nuns. When they leave, he realizes they won’t be able to eat anywhere fancy. “You could tell, for one thing, that they never went anywhere swanky for lunch. It made me so damn sad when I thought about it” (Salinger 114). Holden admits being sad for them and then realizes that “it wasn’t too important” (Salinger 114). Even though he knows that this shouldn’t be depressing because it’s not important, he rebuts by stating “but it made me sad anyway” (Salinger 114). From the Freudian theory point of view, Holden is lacking a defense mechanism. This defense mechanism helps to “prevent awareness of anxiety-evoking or