Holden Caulfield's Depression

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger in 1951. This is a story of how Holden Caulfield ended up in an insane asylum and the events that led to his breakdown. Holden’s breakdown was caused by a series of events including his experience with depression. Depression is defined as a serious mood disorder that can come in many different forms according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Symptoms associated with this disorder include sadness or an “empty mood”, feeling of hopelessness and guilt, loss of interest, suicidal thought and or actions, and poor academic performance. Holden Caulfield appears to be depressed because he told us about several events throughout the weekend and described his thought in this novel that points to signs of depression.

One symptom of depression that Holden Caulfield has been affected by is poor academic performance. Poor performance in school can range from low C’s or D’s to failing with no interest in learning. Holden Caulfield shows the symptoms of poor academic performance because while attending Pency Prep he failed four of the five classes, only passing English. He showed no interest or pleasure which is another symptom of

depression. He failed the four classes because he did not try and despite the fact he did not try in his English class, he managed to pass because he had learned the material in previous years at different schools.
While Holden shows no interest in trying at school, he is also very irritable.

Being irritable is defined as easily annoyed, irritated, or become very angry. Irritability is a symptom of depression and is caused by lack of patience. Holden shows symptoms of irritability when Stradleter came home from his date with Jane Gallagher, who Holden used to have a crush on. When Stradleter refused to share details about his night with Jane and was mocking Holden in a way such as rubbing the date with Jane in Holden’s face, Holden became very irritable and angry with how Stradleter was acting and went as far as to go after Stradleter and tried to beat him up. Holden was so agitated by Stradleter’s actions that he even went next door to Ackley’s room and spent the night

there.
The last symptom of depression Holden has shown is suicidal thoughts. Suicidal thoughts are the act of thinking of taking your own life and hurting yourself due to a feeling of loneliness and or sadness. While Holden was staying at the Edmont hotel, he had a night where he wanted to jump out of the window and kill himself. He was not acting like a suicidal teenager, he truly wanted to take his life and kill himself because he was depressed and felt no reason to live any longer. The only thing that kept Holden from committing this horrible and terrifying act was that he did not want people walking by and looking at his dead body.
Holden could not have prevented the disorder from entering his life no matter what, but he could have prevented it from worsening. Holden could have lived at home, tried to get closure with his brother, or just tried in school and good academic performance might have given him something goes in his life to focus on. This might have been hard for him because he might not have been able to do it if the depression was already there but now he can start medication, living with his family, or even make goals each day so he can focus on something good. Holden Caulfield was and still is depressed but we can all hope that his life will get better somehow.