J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

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Holden Caulfield is a strange character in the story The Catcher in the Rye. He is first seen this way by when he gets expelled from a school called Pencey Prep. He is expelled for flunking almost all of his classes. Holden then watches his school play in a football game from afar and decides he wants to say bye to his teacher. After that he decides to leave Pencey early and head home to New York. He goes out drinking and hitting on women while he is there and then goes to see his sister, Phoebe. He is very close to his younger sister and really connects with her. This disorder that Holden has could be believed to be bipolar disorder; which he displays in different occasions throughout the novel.
Bipolar disorder is defined as “a condition in which a person has periods of depression and periods of being extremely happy or being cross or irritable” (“Bipolar Disorder”). Mood swings can occur in patients with bipolar disorder in the form of triggers. Triggers are causing factors that would induce a type of mood swing. In Holden Caulfield’s case, he has a mood swing from happy and talkative to angry and upset. I believe that Holden’s trigger could be induced stress from a person disagreeing with him. This disorder is shown several times throughout the novel.
First situation in The Catcher in the Rye where Holden displays this disorder, is when he visits his teacher, Mr. Spencer, to say goodbye. He talks with Mr. Spencer about why he left Elkton Hills. Mr. Spencer asked because Holden was flunking at Pencey Prep and he heard that Holden didn’t do well at this school either. Holden then goes on to explain that the reason he left Elkton Hills because everyone there were “phonies”. Holden says “I can’t stand that stuff. It drives me ...

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...and when he ventures home to talk to Phoebe. In each of the situations Holden either becomes angry or he becomes depressed. These types of mood swings are signs of bipolar disorder. Each scenario is also associated with what could be believed to be triggers which cause these dramatic mood swings. Holden Caulfield’s trigger seems to be whenever he becomes overly stressed with a situation. When this stress comes over him by what someone says or what someone does, it causes Holden to have these mood swings. These mood swings either end with him being put into a fight, or with him becoming depressed. These are the reasons to believe that Holden Caulfield has bipolar disorder.

Works Cited

"Bipolar Disorder." NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991. Print.

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