Holden Caulfield Psychological Analysis

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The Definitive Diagnosis of Holden Caulfield Holden seems to always be finding himself upset with something, someone, or someplace, and this does not change even at the very end of the book. While Holden Caulfield would have most-likely been looked at differently in the 1950s like in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, his behavior can be explained by the death of his brother Allie. He is not suffering from any mental illnesses, such as depression or bipolar disorder, but is instead just grieving losing his brother in an extreme way. Everybody grieves differently, and for Holden it includes not wanting to let go of his childhood, making radicalized decisions, and blaming his problems on the world around him. In the 1950s, Holden would …show more content…

Although depression could be connected to his actions, with his specific circumstances in mind, it does not add up. Holden is merely just suffering from losing his brother, and good friend Allie. While Allie’s death was almost four years ago for Holden, the spiral of destructive events he has created is just catching up to him now. It is mention in the book that shortly after Allie’s death, he had an outburst. The book says, “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 39). This was probably a result of Holden realizing that his brother was really gone forever. Since then, Holden has been ignoring this and probably trying to avoid acknowledging his feelings in any way he can. This is what is causing Holden to have another outburst, this time spread out over the course of many months, starting by him giving up at Pencey and ending in what could have been him seriously hurting himself, had he not have eventually gone home. At one point in the book, Mr. Antolini mentions to Holden that if he is not careful sometime will happen and he will have some sort of “great fall”. The quote goes, “This fall I think you're riding for--it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling” (Salinger 186). This interaction with Mr. Antolini is was probably woke Holden up and made him realize he can not keep wasting his days by acting the way he was. Like mentioned before, if Holden would not have gone home when he did, he might have ended up hurting himself or even been killed. The best route for Holden right now would be to take a semester or just some time to

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