The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Do you ever wish you could return to the early time of your existence where the innocence and purity of childhood enveloped you on a day-to-day basis? These were the times when committing wrong doings were not only met with meager consequences, but also expected of you by the parental guardians or guides in your life. In "The Catcher in the Rye" , written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, expresses his yearning for this feeling continuously throughout this detailed depiction of a struggling young man who craves nothing more than to make the dream he has given his entire being to, into a reality he can physically experience. A simpler way to help readers understand his complex idea is to compare his dream to the dreams of the fabled "Fountain of Youth" that countless stories are written about. Instead of the physical attributes that staying young would give an individual, the mental ideals of innocence and purity are the cause of Holden's tireless pursuit and inability to interact and function in every facet of society. The tragedies and socially awkward life that Salinger's character endures would be extremely damaging to most any human being's, already precariously balanced, mental health. The symptoms of popular health disorders such as bipolar disorder, anti-social disorder, and anxiety disorders are expressed prominently by Holden Caulfield throughout the entire novel.
The symptoms an individual could show and experience if they were diagnosed with having an anti-social personality disorder include, but are not limited to, the inability to function in a regular society, fear of interacting with any normal inhabitant of said society, the distancing of oneself from the society he/she has an inability to inte...

... middle of paper ...

... is apparent that he is a troubled young man through not only what is said and done, but what is also left as unspoken thoughts inside his mind. Holden Caulfield is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, mentally unstable. He is not classified as a "crazy person" or a "loon" but he is a young man who, as a child, had innocence and purity ripped away with no warning or mercy. Instead of reacting more positively and growing older at a young age, the tragedies caused him to year for the innocence of childhood that he knew in some dark corner of his mind had been long gone and was never returning regardless of how much faith and stubbornness he had.

Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2007.Print.
"Personality Disorders and Psychopathy" Anon. article- Web Address:
www.patient.co.uk/doctor/personality-disorders-and-psychopathy#