J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye explores the life of a dramatic teenager, Holden, who struggles with the death of his younger brother at a young age and the realities of growing up. Holden’s main conflict throughout the novel is understanding and dealing with the authenticity and innocence of childhood versus the phoniness and impurities of growing up. This conflict often manifests itself in the form of a personality disorder and Holden’s need to be a protector of innocence. Holden’s borderline personality disorder and his tendency to associate with young, innocent people instead of with corrupted adults stems from the trauma of the loss of his brother and the neglect of his family during that difficult time. A personality disorder …show more content…
Holden loved Allie and admired him a lot. He states, “but it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody” (Salinger 42). In a way, Allie symbolizes innocence and goodness to Holden, and his death to something so unpreventable showed him just how easily innocence can be taken away. This contributes to his desire to be a protector of innocence. In addition to losing Allie, which was a traumatic enough experience for Holden, his parents were consumed in their own grief and failed to help Holden properly deal with the intense feelings he had. As seen in the following quote, Holden had a very dramatic reaction to the death of his brother, Allie. I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage that night he died, and broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was broken and everything by that time, and so I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly even knew I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie (Salinger
“I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery,and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap, but i couldn't stand it anyway.” the quote is self explanatory in the fact that he outright states that he knows that Allie is dead but still somewhat cannot truly accept it. The fact that- -Holden outright says this tells a lot about his character in the fact that he can be too outright at times .
To begin with, you must first take in to consideration Holden’s feelings towards his little brother Allie. Holden consider Allie “the smartest person in their family”. “..it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid, though” (5.7).This means that Holden looked
The reason Holden has a hard time talking to people about his feelings is because in the time period he lives in people have a stereotypical image of not sharing emotional feelings with others. Losing his brother, Holden has to adjust to keep his composure without having the direct outlet of Allie to comfort
Allie, Holden's young brother who died several years earlier, was a major symbol throughout the story. When Holden remembers incidents from his past involving Allie, his attitude changes, such as when he writes the composition about Allie's baseball glove or when Holden broke his hand after punching all of the windows after Allie died. "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". (39) He feels that Allie was one of the few people who were not phony in a world full of phonies. More importantly, Allie represents the innocence and childhood that Holden strives to find throughout his three-day journey. In Holden's opinion, Allie represents the purity that Holden looks for in the world. Holden admits that he admires Allie more than he admires Jesus, and even prays to Allie at one point, rather than Jesus. Allie is Holden's role model, whom he judges the rest of the world according to. When Allie dies, it creates turbulence in Holden's life.
for Allie and knew that if anyone could save him, Allie could. During one incident, Holden
One of the most impactful events in Holden’s past is the death of his brother. Jos death definitely took a big piece of Holden’s innocence. One of the main causes of his depression is the death of Allie’s and it had a tremendous impact on his life. Allie inset rarely mentioned, his passing had a great impact on Holden. Leukemia took is younger brothers innocents and this deeply saddened him and he promise himself to that he would do whatever he could not to let that happen to other innocent kids. “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. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie”
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
However, his feelings suggest that the true reason for his depression is his loss of innocence. When he was 13 years old, he lost his little brother Allie to leukemia. Allie meant a lot to Holden. He even became a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling off the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet.
If there were one word to tell what the theme of the book was it would be innocence. How we are all innocent at some point, how to try to keep our innocence, and how no one can keep their innocence forever. We all fall from our innocence. Adam and Eve fell from grace and innocence and set the tone for all of our lives. Throughout the whole book Holden is trying to make people keep their innocence and he wants to hold onto it himself. What he needs to learn and does learn through the course of the book is that no one can keep his or her innocence. We all fall at some point, but what we have control over is how hard we fall.
Holden never gets over Allie’s death. It causes him to become restless. He is searching for something
Holden wished that Allie did not die. Melinda Smith and Jeanne Segal said that some of the signs and symptoms of depression are “Sadness or Hopelessness, poor school performance, and feelings of worthlessness and guilt” (2). Holden had to deal with guilt when he couldn't come to Allie’s funeral since, he was in the hospital. Holden feels guilty for not going and he mourns Allie everyday since his death. According to the article Depression, “Depression differs from grief, bereavement or mourning, which are appropriate emotional responses to the loss of loved persons or objects” (1). In conclusion, Allie’s death played a huge part in Holden’s
Holden has a near obsession with the death of his younger brother Allie, who died at age thirteen due to leukemia. Holden had punched and broke all the windows in the garage out of anger; he says that his hands still hurt from the incident. Throughout the novel, Holden dwells on Allies’ death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, from the baseball mitt. Towards the end of the book, Holden proves again that he can’t cope with death. Phoebe, his younger sister, is putting him on the spot by asking him what he likes, but Holden can only think of two nuns and a boy, James W. Castle. James W. Castle was a boy who Holden had lent his sweater to, Castle died unfortunately by being thrown out of a window wearing Holden’s sweater. Another thing that haunts Holden is the fact that during roll call in class, his last name always is called after Castles’ last name. After the brief moment of reminiscing, Holden irritates Phoebe by saying, “I like Allie…”. He has trouble acknowledging the death of his brother.
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
Allie's death was tragic but maybe it is the death that Holden wanted for himself , he wanted to preserve his innocence. One example of Allie's innocence is " He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody" Holden valued the mitt he only showed it to one person outside his family, Jane , "She was the only one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie's baseball mitt to, with all the poems written on it. She'd never met Allie or...
One of the relationships that is mentioned within the story, is Holden's relationship with Allie, his brother. Holden loves Allie and is very upset about his passing and how Allie was so young. According to Holden, Allie was one of the most lovable people ever. "You'd have liked him... He was terrifically intelligent . . . But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest" (Salinger 38). Allie’s death caused Holden to have trouble and be unable to form relationships and bonds because he is afraid the people he meets and gets close to are going to leave him like Allie did.