According to a report published by the Associated Press, nearly two million teens in America are depressed. Teens go through so much and are very stressed. Holden Caulfield is one of these teens. In the novel the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we meet Holden, a seventeen year-old boy facing tough times in his adolescent years. Holden struggles throughout his life. His internal conflicts that keep him from being happy, are his fear of isolation, the pressure to conform, and his depression. Since Holden’s brother Allie died, Holden has been lonely. His attitude and of other people has left him friend-less. When Holden was at Ernie’s watching him play piano, he thought to himself, “It made me feel depressed and lousy again, and I damn near got my coat back and went back to the hotel, but it was too early and I didn’t much feel like being all alone” (110). Many things bother Holden and they make him want to be alone, but then when he really thinks about being alone, he would rather not be. When Holden gets this feeling of loneliness, he …show more content…
He is very judgmental and gets bothered very easily. He even complains when it is quiet, “Everybody was asleep or out or home for the weekend, and it was very, very quiet and depressing in the corridor” (66). Being so sensitive makes life hard for Holden. He notices these things especially when he is alone and then complains about these types of things depressing him. The quietness/emptiness bothers him even more when he has nothing to do, “The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I wasn’t sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead” (118). If Holden had people in his life, he wouldn’t feel so alone and depressed. In addition, he makes himself even more depressed by thinking about the emptiness everywhere. Holden’s internal conflict of being depressed hinders him from his own
As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.
Nineteen million American adults suffer from a major case of depression (Web MD). That is a staggering one in every fifteen people (2 in our classroom alone). Holden Caulfield is clearly one of those people. Depression is a disease that leads to death but is also preventable. Psychology, stressful events, and prescription drugs are causes of depression. Stressful events brought on Holden’s depression. Holden has been trying to withstand losing a brother, living with careless parents, and not having many friends. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that takes us through the frazzled life of Holden Caulfield, who appears to be just a regular teen. But by hearing his thoughts and through heart-wrenching events in the book, the reader learns that Holden is not the innocent boy that he once appeared. In his book, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger shows that Holden’s depression is not only affecting him, but also the people around him through Sally, Phoebe, and Sunny.
He's so used to the idea of being alone that it becomes what he wants. Holden is so petrified of losing the people he is closest to, so he decides to not be close with anyone. He is afraid of the same repercussions from Allie. He would rather keep to himself than risk contentment, rationality, and stability. He for so many days after his removal from Pencey would by himself go to bars alone and try to drink away his pain. “I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (Salinger 198). It’s during this time that Holden is falling down a dark, bottomless pit of depression and loneliness. It eventually almost became the death of him when he had isolated himself so much. He became sick, depressed, and full of anxiety. His decision to distance himself weakened him beyond his belief. “I still had that headache. It was even worse. And I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (Salinger 252). His depression was starting to get the best of him and all he needed was to be comforted by someone other than
Emotional symptoms can be harder to detect sometimes, especially ones like hopelessness, and sadness. He indicates sadness by saying, “Then I went over and laid down on Ely's bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome” (48). Holden, even though he says he does not need anybody, he really wants and needs that social interaction, with people like Ackley. He views phony people and social outcasts to have no life, when in reality,
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.
Depression is the storm whose rain can drown a person to oblivion if they have nothing to cling onto. This sea of confusion swirls in an endless tsunami of despair whose only savior is love, for its intensity shines through the storm and calms the sea. Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, explores this emotion through Holden Caulfield. Adolescence is often a time of confusion and yearning to find a place of belonging; this is no exception to Holden who seeks connection with other people and struggles to understand the changing world alongside his transition into young adulthood. Holden’s struggle throughout the novel ultimately illustrates the hypocritical notions society tries to teach the new generations such as being an individual
Holden Caulfield conveys his melancholy, sarcasm, and seclusion greatly through his dialogue; his vocabulary constantly consists of depression and loneliness. He expresses such agony all throughout the dialogue of the book. An example of this would be when Holden quotes, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (153). In this quote, Holden is expressing his confusion and unhappiness but mostly is just confused to why he is unhappy. He feels a severe amount of misery that devours him, all of which is shown greatly in all of his dialogue. He, at one point in the novel, feels like committing suicide because he cannot handle the pressure. He says that “I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep- I...
In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is an example of a prosaic rich adolescent boy,with a pedestrian set of problems, but a psychoanalysis reveals that Holden has a plethora of atypical internal conflicts. Internal conflicts that other students at Pencey, such as Stradlater and Ackley, would not normally experience.
Holden?s loneliness is apparent in more than just his lack of friends. His loneliness is made apparent by the way he misses his deceased brother, Allie. Holden makes several references to Allie and how the two used to get along and acted more like friends than brothers. Holden deeply misses his brother and even talks to him out loud to comfort himself because he still feels a void inside of him. Holden misses his brother more than others because Holden never had the final closure to his brother?s death, Holden never went to Allie?s funeral, and because Holden didn?
The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger is about a boy named Holden Caulfield and his struggles in one part of his life. Holden seem very normal to people around him and those he interacts with. However, Holden is showing many sighs of depression. A couple of those signs that are shown are: trouble sleeping, drinking, smoking, not eating right, and he talk about committing suicide a couple times during the book. On top of that Holden feel alienated plus the death of Holden’s brother Allie left Holden thinking he and no where to go in life.
Events in Holden's life lead him to become depressed. Holden's depression centers on Allie. The manner that Holden sees himself and how he sees others leads him to be expelled from school. The speaker expresses, "One thing about packing depressed me a little," (51). Holden expresses these feelings when he packs his bags after being notified that he is expelled. Holden leaves school and heads for New York City, where he finds himself to be more lonely and depressed than ever. He is all alone and he laments, " What I really felt like doing was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out of the window," (104). Holden says this while he is all alone in his motel room. He is too ashamed of himself to return home, he knows that his mother will be upset and his father will be angry with him. He also adds that " I wasn’t feeling sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all, I almost wished I was dead," (90). Holden states this during one of the first nights that he is staying in New York. Holden expresses many thoughts of depression.
One reason is that Holden drinks and smokes at a young age. However, he gets past this because of his height and his gray hair. Another reason is that he does not care about his education. Even after failing school after school he still does not care whatsoever. He also said that he does not have much concern for his future either. In addition, Holden tries to flirt and date with older women that he does not know. Furthermore, Holden likes runs away from all his problems instead of facing them. For example, instead of telling the truth about his grades at Pency to his parents, he decides to stay on the run until he runs out of money and gets sick. Lastly, Holden repeatedly lies a lot throughout the book such as his name or even where he is going. In conclusion, I am certain that Holden is a problem
Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives. However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness. This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Caulfield as a manic-depressive. Holden uses three techniques throughout the novel to cope with his depression. He smokes, drinks, and talks to Allie. Although they may not be positive, Holden finds comfort in these three things.
Depression, a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. This mental illness demonstrates to affect teens as much as it affects adults. Studies show that 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. When you deal with depression, you often find it difficult to live an everyday, normal life. The “Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger, narrates the main character Holden Caulfield, a hostile and negative person, who suffers from severe depression.