J. D. Salinger: A Psychological Analysis

The 1950’s was a time when people began returning from the long treacherous battles of WWII. One of those people was J.D. Salinger.
Salinger’s writing shows his depiction of trauma and its effects on people.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Caulfield as struggling to connect with the people around him and his fear of growing up due to his experience of loss.
First, Holden attempts to cope with the loss of his brother Allie, but continues to feel depressed and alone. As a result of Allie’s death, it immediately affected Holden and his actions. This is where his anger began to develop. His immediate response was to lash out despite the consequences he would face. Later he would find

Similar to his need for attention when he punched in the windows of his garage and broke his hand, he wanted that attention specifically from his mother. This could be due to the Oedipal theory. The Oedipal theory is that a son has a desire for his mother and her attention. Holden lacked this growing up because his mother was constantly focused on Allie and his illness. He mentioned her by saying “she hasn’t felt too healthy since my brother Allie died” (Salinger 120). Even after he was gone, “in his eyes his mother [was] so preoccupied with Allie that she continue[d] to neglect Holden, as presumably she did when Allie was dying” (Miller). Correspondingly, the first thing he says in the book is, “the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all the David Copperfield kind of crap” (Salinger 3). Immediately, the reader can see that Holden doesn’t have a very strong relationship with either of his parents and that they didn’t pay much attention to him. This may have been the leading cause of him flunking all but one of his classes. It also affects Holden’s attitude and ability to form stronger relationships. Along with the loss of his brother, he also lost all of his mother’s last bit of attention he had for him.

Throughout the novel Holden is always talking about being depressed and suicidal, but arguably he just doesn’t want to grow up and become a “phony.” Also, he shies away from interactions from most people because of the complications of life. Salinger used symbols like the red hunting hat, The Museum of Natural History to show Holden’s inner conflicts and fear of growing up. These symbols showed that “Holden is less fortunate, for in a world where phonies vastly outnumber the pure of heart, there are only small moments of stasis...Everything else is a veritable flood tide pushing Holden toward change, toward adulthood, toward responsibility, toward abject phoniness, toward death” (Pinsker). Those moments of stasis being Holden’s escape from reality. First, the red hunting hat allowed Holden to separate himself from the world of phonies and hold onto his brothers lost childhood. Since Holden fears adulthood he puts the hat onto embrace childhood even though he doesn’t like people to see him wearing it. His red “hunting hat really gave [him] quite a lot of protection” (Salinger 233). The hat didn’t only protect him from the rain, but also from the phoniness of the world. Additionally, another reason that furthers Holden’s fear of growing up is the way he view the museum. The museum makes him significantly happy compared to most things because it never changes. He stated,