“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced.… [It’s a] deadened feeling [that’s] very different from feeling sad. [Sadness] hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. [It’s] necessary thing to feel[, but] depression is very different.” J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, said the quote of how she experienced depression. Depression is something very different from sadness, it’s almost like a sickness that can affect anyone. Depression can destroy anyone if the person isn’t treated or helped out. In Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, Holden is a teenager that thinks of life as a burden and worthless. When Holden was a child at the age of 13, he had to experience his little brother, Allie, dying over leukemia. After …show more content…
Allie’s death, Holden was angry and started to punch out windows until his hand broke. Later on when Holden became a teenager, he started to fail his classes at school and not be in class on time.
The last school Holden went to was Pencey Prep. While Holden was going to Pencey, he was failing all of his classes except English and not being in class. When Holden left Pencey Prep, he was alone in New York City trying to start a life by himself because Holden didn’t want to return home with his parents knowing he got kicked out again. Holden had a belief of everyone being “phony” to each other. Holden thought of “phony” as trying to be a person, the person isn’t. At the end of the book, Holden was at a mental hospital due to him being possibly “insane” from all the acts he did or experiencing depression from all the trauma Holden went through. The trauma of Allie’s death caused Holden to bring out a darker version of himself that’s thinks of himself as worthless, delusions of people being phony, addiction to smoking/drinking alcohol, and started to fail in school. All of these actions and emotions are signs of depression and grief. Holden shows multiple symptoms of having major depression/grief in his life from Allie’s …show more content…
death. Depression/grief can be caused by multiple traumatic incidents or just by one incidents throughout someone’s life.
One of the common factors of depression to be caused is someone losing a loved one. It can be traumatizing especially losing someone while as a child because the child won’t fully understand what has happened in the moment. That’s what happened to Holden as a child when he lost Allie over leukemia. Holden thought of Allie as pure and good hearted so Allie’s death took away Holden’s thoughts of Allie. Another trauma that could have happened was Holden being a sexual victim. In Catcher in the Rye, after Holden fell asleep at Mr. Antolini’s house, Holden said “I woke up all of a sudden… I felt something on my head… It was Mr. Antolini’s hand… I jumped [up.] “What the hellya doing?” I said.” The way how Holden reacted to Mr. Antolini touching his hair seemed as if Holden was a victim of sexual abuse in the past. Being a victim of sexual abuse is another factor for depression to become depressed. “Depression can happen at any age, but symptoms [mostly happen] in teen or early 20s or 30s.” according to Teen Depression on NIMH. Holden is probably now starting to develop these symptoms of depression that cause him to think of himself as useless or a failure that leads into
grief. Holden might be going through the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. When Holden was punching out windows in the garage, he was doing it out of anger and denial that Allie was gone. From Catcher in the Rye, Hold said “I broke all the goddam windows with my fist… It was a very stupid thing, I’ll admit, but I [don’t even know] why I was doing it… I mean I’m not [even] going to be a goddam surgeon or a violinist or anything anyway.” Holden just broke windows for the hell of it with no purpose to do it and said “It was a very stupid thing.” Holden really didn’t care that he was hurting himself. Almost as if Holden was bargaining his hand to “bring back” Allie. Another example from Catcher in the Rye that Holden was angry was him fighting Stradlater about Jane. Holden said “I don’t remember [it] so hot… I tried to sock [Stradlater, but I missed]... next time I knew, I was on the goddam floor.” The same night, Holden wrote about Allie for Stradlater’s English essay. Holden writing about Allie probably brought up some emotions of anger and since Stradlater took Jane out on a “date”, it brought out even more anger in Holden. All of Holden anger is coming from on common factor, Allie. Whenever Holden thinks about Allie, it makes Holden grieve over the lost of Allie still over three years of cooping. According from Eleni Berger from the American Cancer Society, grief cause people to be “[unable] to accept [lost of a loved], feeling alone, feeling life is meaningless, and loss of identity or purpose in life.” Holden shows himself as feeling alone by thinking everyone is “phony.” Holden thinks of people being phony as trying to be someone they aren’t. The only people Holden didn’t think as being “phony” was Allie and his sister, Phoebe. But most importantly, Holden seems to have lost all purpose to live after Allie’s death which can lead into him being depressed. Emotional symptoms of teen depression from Mayo Clinic were “low self-esteem, feeling of worthless/guilt, and ongoing sense that life and the future are grim and bleak.” Holden always have negative thoughts of life, but can have a positive view as well. Holden says, he hates the movies because the people in the film are acting “phony”, but in reality, he actually really does enjoy the movies.
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye Salinger writes about the main character Holden Caulfield and his life. Holden is a teenager who comes from a wealthy family, he loves his family and lives very happy until the death of his brother Allie. After his brother died Holden becomes troubled, being kicked out of school again and again developing a negative view of the world. Holden throughout the book shows anger,denial, and acceptance over the loss of his brother.
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.
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.
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.
There is one universal truth that will exist through out all of time and space that affects all that live to experience it. That truth is known as grief. We all experience grief, and for Holden Caulfield, grief is a major aspect of his life, the force that drives him to do everything he does in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. There are seven stages to this emotion known as grief: denial, depression, anger, bargaining, guilt, reconstruction, and finally, acceptance. There are many parts in the novel that could have influenced Holden’s grief, but the main one that most people who read the novel have figured it out was the death of his little brother Allie. The root to Holden’s grief lies with his brother which cause Holden’s to act and change the way he does in the novel.
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
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.
The Catcher in the Rye has been described, analyzed, rebuffed, and critiqued over the years. Each writer expresses a different point of view: It is a story reflecting teen-ager's talk--thoughts-emotions--actions; or angst. I believe it is an adult's reflection of his own unresolved grief and bereavements. That adult is the author, J.D. Salinger. He uses his main character, Holden, as the voice to vent the psychological misery he will not expose -or admit to.
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 becomes a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling of the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet. “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a bastard—my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him.” (Sallinger) In this part, Allie plays the role as the Catcher in the Rye and keeps Holden from falling of the cliff. This is why i believe that Holden wants to become a “ Catcher in the Rye”. He wants to help people like Allie has helped him. He feels that it's what he’d meant to do with his
Holden Caulfield suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder throughout the course of the novel. In fact, the root of all his problems come from Allie’s passing; he died from leukemia. Holden used to be extremely close with him and his imminent death changed his entire life and psyche. Holden seems to relive the event of his beloved little brother Allie’s death over and over. “What is clear, however, is that many of the symptoms Holden displays in the course of the novel mirror the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The death of his younger brother, Allie was a traumatic event in Holden Caulfield’s life and is perhaps at the root of the depression he battles in the novel. The death of a sibling can trigger post-traumati...
It is a mental illness that can sometimes occur in teenagers as a response to a sudden traumatic experience or abandonment. Symptoms of depression that directly relate to Holden’s behaviour include: loss of appetite, depressed or irritable mood, failing relations with family and friends, faltering school performance, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or self-hatred and obsessive fears or worry about death. Holden lost his younger brother Allie to cancer when he was only thirteen years old. An event such as this is can be traumatic to a young person and cause feelings of sadness and/or depression. Thoughts about suicide is another common symptom of depression. Holden expresses thoughts about committing suicide in Chapter 14 after Maurice assaults him: “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (Salinger,
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.
Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he expresses this attitude through his dialogue, tone, and diction.
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.