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Holden catcher in the rye character
Holden catcher in the rye character
The catcher in the rye analysis of holden caulfield
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Holden’s depression becomes worse as time goes on. The adverse situations that Holden gets involved in, provokes his thoughts on death. After the controversy he has with Maurice and Sunny, Holden ponders jumping out his hotel room’s window. A day later, he starts to imagine himself dying from pneumonia as he sits in cold Central Park. And at one point, out of nowhere, he feels like he is going to disappear every time he reaches the end of a street. Holden feels like disappearing from society. When Holden and Sally are on their date at an ice skating rink, he brings up a possibility of them running away together. He talks about how they can live in a cabin camp somewhere far and how he will find a job for himself when they run out of money
to use. However, the night before, Holden was not even thinking about his future. After Holden disagrees to give Maurice and Sunny an extra five dollars for the night fling, Maurice strikes a hard punch at Holden’s stomach. The impact is so bad that Holden feels like dying; he could not even breathe. He lays on the ground for a while and then decides to get up and head to the bathroom. After an hour or so, he gets into bed but struggles with falling asleep. At that moment, he has an urge to commit suicide. In his perspective, everything around him seems to be crashing down. He feels like jumping out the window but once he realizes that the gruesome scene would attract others’ attention, he disregards the idea. At this point, it is clear to see that Holden’s depression is really starting to take effect. With all the unpleasant events quickly taking place, it causes Holden to want to just run away from humanity. Sadly, Holden’s suicidal thought was not a one time occurrence. The idea becomes more consistent as time passes. While he is freezing as he sits in dark Central Park, he notices ice forming in his hair, even though he is wearing his red hunter hat. The observation causes Holden to worry about himself catching pneumonia and die. As his thoughts go further in, he starts to visualize all the phonies that will be attending his funeral. After a while, he moves on and starts to worry about how his death will be a big toll on his parents, especially his mom, since she is still affected by Allie’s death. Holden then imagines how his body will be place in the cemetery along with other dead bodies surrounding him and hopes his family will dispose of him differently. He seems to be thinking this death as something that will soon come to reality. In perspective, if Holden dies, he will no longer exist in the world nor be surrounded by phonies. Now that Holden’s depression is at its peak, instead of imagining himself disappear, the feeling is becoming a reality. As Holden walks down the streets of New York after leaving Mr. Antolini’s apartment, he starts to feel a surge of anxiety. All of a sudden, he starts to feel like he is going to disappear each time he reaches the end of a street. From then on, every time the sensation occurs, Holden starts begging Allie to not let him disappear. Holden thanks Allie for not letting disappear whenever he reaches the next street. Before, Holden would only imagine the possibility of himself being gone from the world, however, he really feels like he is going to vanish this time. As more troublesome situations occur, his disappearance begins to feel more realistic. Holden’s depression stimulates his impulse to disappear from society. The unpleasant events arouses his imprudent desire to jump out his hotel window. His need to get away from society causes him to envision his own death from pneumonia. His sadness and confusion allows the feeling of disappearance to slip into his thoughts. Holden is on the verge of suicide.
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.
Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood. Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child.
Holden returns to school and goes to his bedroom in the dorm. In his room quietly reading, his neighbor Robert Ackley came in. Holden describes him as a pimply, insecure, annoying boy with a bad dental hygiene. When Holden’s roommate Stradlater who was “madly in love with himself” (27) arrived home after the football game, Ackley abruptly left. Stradlater tells him that he has a date with a friend of his, Jane Gallagher. Jane is someone that Holden really cares for and because he knows the way Stradlater is, Holden became worried for her. “It just drove me stark raving mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky’s car”. (48) Holden became depressed and lonely, so out of the blue Holden decides to pack his things and leave for New York a few days earlier. On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates. Not wanting to tell his whole life story, he told her his name was “Rudolf Schmidt”, the name of th...
Holden feels as if he is stuck in his 13 year old self. Although he is aging he isn’t necessarily maturing the way his classmates and other people are around him. This is due to the fact that he never received closure when Allie died. When he starts picturing his own funeral because he might get pneumonia and die, he remembers D.B. telling him about his brother's funeral. He stated, “I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). Since he never attended the funeral he never got to say his final goodbyes to the one person he truly loved. Holden feels as if he can’t connect with anyone else in the world like he did with Allie. If he did then he would most likely push them away, so he wouldn’t have to experience the trauma of loss again, because it greatly impacted his life the first time. The trauma Holden experienced when he was younger resulted in him not being able to form stronger relationships with people which made him more depressed and
The Catcher in the Rye revolves around Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the novel, and his disillusionment. Holden’s disillusionment illustrates that he has a problem accepting such. Aforesaid is based upon multiple factors, most which have brought Holden lasting traumas. A remedy is required for Holden to accept his disillusionment and enable an improvement of his situation. For Holden’s remedy, the consultation of psychologists, and additional specialized health professionals would be the core of an apt remedy for Holden’s psychological and physiological state based upon the numerous causes of such and the everlasting trauma of some of the determinants of aforesaid situation. The origins of Holden’s disillusionment revolved mainly around the death of his younger brother Allie three years ago, of which he still experiences the trauma to this day. His disillusionment is caused by both
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.
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.
To conclude, Holden try’s desperately on holding on to his innocents. Triggered by the loss of his brother, Holden makes it his mission to protect kids from there inevitable maturity, sealing them from phony’s and. When he realised that he could not achieve the qoel of saving all children from growing up Holden has a nervous breakdown. He dosint understand the proses of life ad he can’t pick to stay a child for ever when in reality growing up is inevitable. ‘’We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.”
Each year in the United States depression affects over 17 million people of all ages, races, and economic backgrounds. One in every eight teens are affected by depression (“Understanding Depression”). Depression can be defined as a mental illness where the person affected feels very sad and melancholy. Most people have passed through a stage or a short period of time where they have felt downhearted. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, a 16-year old boy, can be viewed as insane in the eyes of many readers because of his behavior and actions. Despite this common belief, Holden most likely suffered from depression. Some symptoms which convey Holden was depressed was his mood, lack of sleep, and his suicidal
In The Catcher in the Rye Holden fears growing up he will get uncomfortable when talking about adult situations, he would avoid seeing people just to avoid an adult predicament. Whether it will be a confrontation with his sister, or talking about a racy book with an adult he always seems to get timid. He is not quite yet ready for adulthood. This is something he needs to get ready for soon. He is 16 going on 17 and before he knows it he will be a grown up and will have to support himself and have a steady job. That involves communication.
Many young people often find themselves struggling to find their own identity and place in society. This search for self worth often leaves these young people feeling lonely and isolated because they are unsure of themselves. Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger's main character in the book The Catcher In the Rye, is young man on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. One contributor to this breakdown, is the loneliness that Holden experiences. His loneliness is apparent through many ways including: his lack of friends, his longing for his dead brother, and the way he attempts to gain acceptance from others.
Holden goes to museum of art and museum of history and tells us about his past and how the memories are now ruined by all the fake people. With depression he doesn't know why he's sad or hurting so he puts it off on other people like it's there fault he's unhappy in his life.
Holden’s self-punishment had landed him in the hospital, forcing him to miss Allie’s funeral, which could have offered him an immense amount of comfort. Instead, Holden is left with survivor’s guilt that is even greater than before. While D.B. had begun to help Holden in the healing process, he is unable to see it through to completion. Holden is incapable of coming to terms with Allie’s death, just as he wasn’t able to see Allie’s burial. This lack of closure enables his past guilt to stay with him into the future, leaving Allie’s death as something Holden must always contend with. It has shaped and molded him into the extremely unhealthy and bereaved person that he is during the events of The Catcher in The Rye. His guilt has forced him closer and closer to a mental break down, and eventually, after Holden’s first full day in the city, the mental collapse sets in. Holden enters a deranged state and believes he is about to die of pneumonia as he sits in Central Park next to the lagoon of ducks, which is representative of Holden’s fear of change. “In this fantasy he acts out his anger against his parents and inflicts upon them the ultimate punishment, his death” (Miller). Holden’s
People’s shortcomings cause them to look at themselves and the environment around them, Holden does this multiple times throughout the book. “It’s a funny kind of yellowness, when you come to think of it, but it’s yellowness, all right. I’m not kidding myself,” (100). Holden doesn’t delude himself into thinking he’s perfect, which will allow him to better understand himself and his needs, but it also causes him some problems, like depression. Depression is said to ail everyone at least once at some point in their lives, Salinger makes it apparent that Holden is suffering it throughout the novel. “What I really felt like doing, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would have done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed,” (116-117). Depression and suicide are still present in today’s society, and unfortunately a part or many people’s lives, contributing to the American
Holden said many things in the novel that showed how sad he was. One in particular said “New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. I kept wishing I could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old Phoebe.” (Salinger, 106) This quote shows that Holden was depressed and sad about such little things. But, it also shows that even in his depression he still loved his sister Phoebe. Additionally, throughout his whole New York trip Holden showed a lot of bizarre behaviors. According to the article by “Depression in Teens”, teens may express their depression through risky behavior. Furthermore, Holden Caulfield shows his depression with the quote he stated at the end of the novel. He says “Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." (Salinger, 277). In this quote, it shows that while he is getting help he still gets depressed when he recites his story to others because he misses everyone he speaks about. Lastly, Holden often thought of his brother Allie who died of leukemia and all the great times they had together. This family situation could even be the main cause for Holden’s