Holden Caulfield Psychoanalysis

Many songs are written for the audience to relate to them. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield - an adolescent male who refuses to enter the adult world-, has qualities similar to those portrayed inthrough the lyrics of the rock band, Green Day’s Basket Case. The novel circumducts around Holden Caulfield whose story inaugurates from a mental institution where he is currently enduring treatment for his emotional collapse and subsequently his expulsion from his school, Pencey Preparatory Academy. Holden is a despondent teenage boy in mourningsuffering from the bereavement of his younger brother Allie, who died ofwas taken by leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Holden narrates his reclusive

nights in New York, where he is seeking rebuttal to persist in his childhood, as he is apprehensive of entering the adult world which is filled with phonies.
To begin with, the 1950’s was a time period of acquiescence, where any signs of aberrant behaviour was not acceptable. In the song Basket Case by Green Day the lyrics,
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid? (Armstrong - Green Day)
demonstrate Billie Joe Armstrong’s - the lead singer of Green Day- prospect of his unreliability ofconcerning his place in the world, and him discerning his mental health. Armstrong composed this song as he suffers from panic disorders and anxiety, enumerating that, “the only way I knew how to deal with it was to write a song about it” (Armstrong). The lyrics construe how the lead singer’s paranoia has aggrandized and reached a point to where he can scarcely function normally. Moreover, the lyrics divulge that he is viewing a skewed version of reality; one that prevents him from executing rational decisions. Holden shares analogous views as Armstrong when he states,
I was only thirteen and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie (Salinger 44).
Through the course of chapter five, Holden’s utterances of his younger brother Allie’s death, while writing a composition for his roommate at Pencey Prep Academy, Stradlater.

Holden mentions that he breaks all the windows in his family’s garage because of his younger brother’s passing. Moreover, he continues to break the windows with his bare hands in defiance of his pulverized hands. Holden is beginning to demonstrate aberrant behaviour at this point. With Holden’s health in his parents’ cognizance, making the decision to get Holden psychoanalyzed. Although Holden has endured the loss of a loved one, his mind is not inheriting prudent decisions for him. Instead of coping with Allie’s death rationally, Holden is abusing himself to a point where his parents have come to the decision that he needs to seek medical assistance for his mental state. Holden connects to these lyrics since, like Armstrong, Holden views a skewed version of reality, preventing him from making rational

decisions.
Like many others, Holden attempts to connect with a mature person during time of difficulty.

In Green Day’s Basket Case, the lyrics, “”I went to a shrink/ To analyze my dreams/ She says it’s lack of sex” (Armstrong - Green Day). The lyrics suggest that Armstrong had gonewent to a psychologist to cope with his paranoia. The popular rock band’s lead vocalist further states through his lyrics that his psychologist suggests that he dreams to stay in a place where he no longer belongs due to the lack of sex in his life. Psychologists, also known as psychoanalysts, scrutinize patterns in the human mind in order to consummate to a diagnosis. Being the son of a psychoanalyst, Carl Luce seems to be playing the role of one during his time with Holden at the bar. Holden’s similar demeanor to Billie Joe Armstrong’s is highlighted when he states, “‘Maybe I’ll go to China. My sex life is lousy,’ I said. ‘Naturally. Your mind is immature’” (Salinger 163). Holden’s aspiration to be what he has ultimately grown out of is evident when his friend Carl Luce notices his unacceptable behaviour and says, “‘Listen. Let’s get one thing straight. I refuse to answer any typical Caulfield questions tonight. When in hell are you going to grow up?” (Salinger 161). Holden feels that he should stay in his childhood, thus, not wanting to transition into the adult world and eventually evolving into a phony. He yearns to linger where he does not have to turn into a hypocrite, like the majority of the people

his age. Through his conversation approach during chapter nineteen of the novel, one can clearly identify Holden’s refusal to act grown as he continuously puts forward prying questions about Carl Luce’s personal sex life, which is not socially acceptable. Carl notices Holden’s childish behaviour and sarcastically inquires when he will begin acting his age. Their entire exchange at the bar displays Holden’s immature behaviour as Carl Luce repeatedly asks him to drop the subject and talk about something else rather than his life. This illustrates that Holden’s friends, such Carl Luce, have matured and approached the adult word, unlike Holden, who refuses to accept this transition. Later on during their exchange at the bar, Carl Luce even suggestsinfers that Holden should visit a professional psychoanalyst to seek guidance and “recognize the patterns of your mind” (Salinger 164). It is evident that Carl Luce has identified that Holden needs medical attention for his state as he is demonstrating abnormal behaviour for someone of his age. Similarly to Armstrong, Holden connects to the lyrics of the song as he is also deemed as socially unacceptable.
Furthermore, every human being is faced with a lack of connection and the need to talk to someone at some point in their lives. Moreover, in the song Basket Case, the lyrics, “I went to a whore /He said my life’s a bore/ So quit my whining cause/ It’s bringing her down” (Armstrong - Green Day), shows Armstrong’s strong need to connect with another. The lyrics suggest that Armstrong went to a prostitute who he would pay in return for her to listen him whine about his problems and introduce a chance to feel a connection. However, even the prostitute desists to listen to his problems. Holden’s emotions connect similarly to Armstrong’s during chapter thirteen when he pays to talk to the prostitute, Sunny,
‘Don’t you feel like talking for a while?’ I asked her. It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar. ‘Are you in a very big hurry?’ She looked at me like I was a madman. ‘What the heck you wanna talk about?’ she said. ‘I don’t know. Nothing special. I just thought perhaps you might care to chat for while.’ (Salinger 106)
Holden is in a sensitive state and only ordered Sunny because his mind seemed to be devouring him with thoughts of loneliness. Although, as Armstrong depicts in his lyrics, Holden’s emotional reach toward the prostitute is unappealing to her. His exchange with Sunny is bleak rather than erotic. Earlier that night, Holden had gotten into a fight with his former roommate Stradlater, after Stradlater had gone out on a date with Holden’s former love interest, Jane Gallagher. After this incident, Holden packed up and left his school, Pencey Prep Academy. The incidents from the night had devoured him into his loneliness, and his need to connect with someone to release his emotions. Holden is similar to Armstrong as he also has a strong desperate need to connect with one on an emotional level.
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, shares many characteristics analogous to those portrayed in the lyrics of Basket Case by Green Day. Similar to Billie Joe Armstrong, Holden exhibits abnormal behaviour, a sign of his disturbed mental health. Moreover, Holden depicts socially objectionable behaviour as he acts immature, similar to how Armstrong felt through his lack of intimacy. Furthermore, Holden demonstrates his solitude and demand to connect with one when he hires a prostitute to talk to, like Armstrong did. It is evident through Holden’s many qualities that the lyrics of the song Basket Case by Green Day strongly particulate with Holden