Holden Caulfield Trauma

During the age of the primitive man, the single fight-or-flight mechanism of stress was responsible for the survival of our distant ancestors when in the face of intimidating predators. Passed on through human descent with modification, stress, in a modern context, now - ironically - does more harm than good. In his novel The Catcher in the Rye, author J. D. Salinger accurately portrays a young, rebellious specimen of adolescence named Holden Caulfield, who narrates his struggles through trauma, depression, and other forms of mental stress throughout his formative years in a relatively modern America. While Salinger crafts Holden into an unreliable narrator, who decides to deal with his stress by “acting cool”, he also establishes early on

that Holden has experienced trauma prior to the start of his narration.

Although Holden makes excuses to sound neutral about his mental wellbeing, his worsening physical state, isolation from others, and glorification of death opposingly show the deep, lasting effects of trauma and a progressively fracturing teenage mind in the absence of help.

Even though Holden acts like everything is alright, his worsening physical symptoms show that he is actually depressed from trauma. At the start of the novel, Holden describes himself, “The one side of my head -the right side- is full of millions of gray hairs. I’ve had them ever since I was a kid” (12). As Holden is young, his grey hairs are most likely due to stress - as opposed to aging. Moreover, already, it is clear that his mind has been subjected to a great deal of stress ever since he was young, yet as his family seems to be financially secure and early grade school is generally not demanding, the only troubling moment from Holden’s youth that the reader learns of directly is Allie’s death (43). This suggests that

Allie’s death was the primary cause of stress that caused Holden to “grow gray hairs”. Moreover, this also shows that Allie’s effect was more than temporary- and has lasted multiple years. In the remainder of the story, Holden demonstrates other physical symptoms of stress that worsen drastically as time progresses. In an intense cascade of abrupt events, Holden has a breakdown of tears around Phoebe (198), nausea when leaving his house (200), a “(sudden) terrific headache” when waiting for Mr. Antolini, and - finally - a case of passing out in the bathroom (225). Although this final incident may have been simply due to Holden’s hangover, Salinger’s intentional use of this event progression alternatively suggests that something else is at play here. As these symptoms are all stress-related, the most probable driving force here is -again- his trauma from Allie’s death, which the reader understands - at this moment in time - is Holden’s most traumatic event. Thus, in the absence of counseling help, Salinger illustrates a prolonged exposure to stress finally bubbling up to Holden’s surface.
Holden’s alienation from others is direct lasting effect of his past grief.

After his death, Allie becomes the golden standard to which everyone else is compared to by Holden. In recounting his impression of Allie before his death, Holden argues, “But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody” (43). As the post-Allie Holden rarely compliments people, it is clear that Holden thinks of Allie very highly. It is primarily due to this high standard of “innocence” from Allie that Holden becomes obsessed with “phoniness”; after his death, Holden cannot help but compare others to his late brother. When remembering his experience at Elkton Hills, he notes, “They had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (17). This theme of “phoniness” is rife and recurrent throughout Holden’s narration and generally pertains to people the same age as him or older. Holden rejects almost everyone he meets by calling them “phonies” and thereby causing him to behave in a manner that isolates him. When on his date with Sally, he repeatedly calls her actions “phony” (138-148). Thus, unable to control his distaste for her phoniness, eventually, he calls her “a royal pain in the ass” (148) and essentially terminates any hopes of them having a relationship. Furthermore, when Phoebe later asks Holden for one thing that he likes (187), he struggles to find an answer until he

responds hesitantly with “Allie”. By placing this scene near the end of the narration, Salinger shows that Holden ultimately fails to connect with anyone beyond Allie and Phoebe. Although it is possible that Holden was unable to make connections to adults for reasons other than his trauma-induced obsession with “phoniness”, Holden’s autonomous inclusion of this theme throughout the narration (despite it being his own recounting of the past) shows that he still has not gotten over the superficial, fake adult world -even as he is writing from rehab. Thus, when Holden’s inability to make friends and change his viewpoint are placed in conjunction, Salinger suggests that this obsession with “phoniness” was the primary driver for his isolation from others.
Although he tries to hide his depression, Holden’s glorification of death and suicidal thoughts are chiefly caused by trauma. Death is prevalent throughout Holden’s narrative. The two significant figures that die in Holden’s narrative are James Castle, who commits suicide in Holden’s clothes after being bullied, and - again - Allie, who dies from leukemia. While Holden nonchalantly claims that he “broke all the goddamn windows with his fist, just for the hell of it” (44) after his brother’s death, it is obvious that his reaction was - on quite the contrary - one of extreme fury and outrage (due to the nature of breaking windows with one’s hands without stopping). Moreover, as death is not something that can easily be dispelled from one’s consciousness, the extent of these deep traumas are evident in Holden’s glorification of death when he says that he wants to be “the catcher in the rye” (191). Antolini explains that this idea of saving others involves Holden’s self-sacrifice when he says, “I can very clearly see you dying nobly, one way or another, for some highly unworthy cause” (207). Nevertheless, Holden seemingly uses this “heroism in death” concept as a facade to shield his intentions of suicide. The idea of Holden committing suicide is apparent most explicitly after his encounter with Maurice, when he states, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (116-117). Although he reasons that death is “not all that bad” -and can even be glorious, suicide actually appeals to Holden because he is depressed from his previous traumas. For instance, Holden is essentially saying (on 117) that he would rather die than go to sleep after the traumatic assault he experienced from Maurice. To him, the idea of death has become a sort of norm, which has made him more susceptible to the idea that suicide is not as horrible as it ought to be. Furthermore, Salinger is also implying that Holden’s mental state has worsened to the extent that living has become more painful than death; Holden, himself, cannot say this due to his “cool”, impartial nature, so he focuses his efforts toward glorifying death instead.
Despite Holden’s lack of objective narration, Salinger is still able to make apparent the presence and magnitude of Holden’s trauma. His physical symptoms, social detachment from others, and thoughts regarding death reflect an intensifying impact of trauma overtime in Holden. Although he eventually receives aid in the form of psychoanalysis, Holden’s recovery appears rather sluggish, as shown by his uncorrected obsession with “phoniness” during his reflection. The Catcher in the Rye is J. D. Salinger’s depiction of the extensive effects that stress and trauma can induce upon the modern teenage mind.