Lost In Past Moments

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Recommended: psychoanalysis of holden caulfield background

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 JD 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 who had died of leukemia. This caused Holden to change in a negative way. The novel is told in first person by Holden himself. 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 in which Holden finds depressing is when he meets two nuns. When they leave, he realizes they won’t be able to eat at 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” (Salinge...

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... during his childhood. An example of a traumatic experience is when he visits and old professor, Mr. Antolini. Mr. and Mrs. Antolini take Holden in after running away from home. Holden is fast asleep and he “felt some guy’s hand” (Salinger 191). This caused him to flee Mr. Antolini’s house. This may not have been the first time Holden has gone through a traumatic experience. He may have experienced many more moments similar to this causing him to repress his thoughts. His isolation towards others was the effect of Allie’s death. Holden constantly experiences depression throughout the novel and does not like to express his feelings towards others. In the end, Holden has been talking to a psychoanalyst throughout the entire novel. He ends up missing everybody who he has talking about. This shows Holden’s need of therapy and companions that he is comfortable with.

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