Holden's Suffering

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The Catcher In The Rye Everybody has responsibilities. They reflect on a person’s maturity and ability to do such duties, but these tasks can appear to be difficult to different individuals. Holden Caulfield happens to be one who can’t seem to grasp onto the idea of being more like an adult and someone to rely on. He suffers from grief, on account of his brother Allie’s death, and that seems to draw him away from the real world. This makes doing certain things a “normal-minded” teenager might do more challenging for Holden, due to the fact that he has such a negative mind-set on life. In the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, Holden goes through a vast amount mental suffering that prevents him from completing his responsibilities, such as school. …show more content…

Thomas Crook, PhD, states that when someone dwells on the loss of someone that meant a great deal to him or her, "The result can be chronic preoccupation, sadness, or even depression." As the reader can see, this mourning can affect the way a person thinks, feels, responds to certain situations, and how he or she accomplishes their responsibilities. This means that daily things, like work and school, can be affected. Also, grieving doesn’t just go away. It can stay with a person for years and years and get a little better every now and then, but never completely go away. Holden experiences this first-hand with his brother, Allie, who died young with …show more content…

As well, it gives us perspective on someone who’s going through these predicaments and as readers we can either relate and/or sympathize with Holden. J.D. Salinger makes the reader feel like they’re in Holden’s shoes with descriptive scenarios of his breakdowns. For an instance, Holden is walking down the street and gets the feeling like he’s going to disappear and calls out to his deceased brother, “Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear…Please, Allie.” (Salinger 198) These moments help tell Holden’s story in a more realistic and meaningful standpoint and allow for the audience of this novel to grasp onto his

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