Nature Vs Nurture In Catcher In The Rye

The lack of nurture that Holden receives from his environment and the conflict he engages in with it are yet another factor that brings Holden down. Person versus Environment contributes greatly to his descent. Holden is shipped between schools, being kicked out of one only to be expelled from the next. To Holden, the environment that he is surrounded by at Pencey represents the phony, cruel world of those who run it. He is unable to connect with anyone in this school, The disgust and disinterest he has with the institution is shown in the quote, “Pencey was full of crooks.” (pg. 6). As well, he is seen incessantly attempting to defy social norms. Holden battles his environment, flunking out of school and showcasing the opposition he has towards

society’s values. By opposing the things. and places a boy his age is supposed to value Holden, in turn, makes himself feel alienated and alone. He struggles to find his place in society. His fight against his environment, and inability to engage with it is what furthers him into his hole of mental illness.

Although the Person versus Person conflicts that Holden endures are not the main reasoning behind his descent, his interaction with Mr. Antolini and lack of interaction with his parents add upon the reasons for the decline of his mental well-being. Holden and Mr. Antolini’s interaction can be viewed as odd, and uncomfortable, and leaves the reader questioning the possibility of “perverty behaviour”. When Holden wakes to find Mr. Antolini patting his head he is frantic and hysterical. His reaction to the situation and the quote, “When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid.” (pg. 213), leads one to believe that perhaps Holden is a victim of some sort of sexual abuse and that his interactions with Mr. Antolini and other authority figures have not always been honest. Holden rarely mentions his parents and is continuously being sent off to boarding schools. The lack of nurture from his parents and inability to confide in them evidently makes Holden feel lonely and without someone to look up to. His father seems to have expectations for Holden that he is unable to meet, such as passing his classes, while his mother is described as, “nervous as hell,” suggesting that she is unable to properly raise her son and deal with is irresponsibility due to her mental state. The conflict of a lack of connection with his parents adds to the list of places Holden does not feel apart of. The relationships Holden has with Mr. Antolini and his parents likely add onto the reasoning behind his descent.

Holden’s cynical perspective and the apathy he has towards the “adult world” are two critical examples of the many Person versus Self-conflicts that Holden continuously battles against that unavoidably lead him to his descent.

The negative light that Holden views the world under is a key contribution to his unhappiness. He is unable to see even a glint of sincerity in people’s actions which allows him to experience feelings of severe despondency and dejection. “People never give your message to anybody,” (pg. 166) shows how Holden no longer feels let down by people but instead expects the worst from them instead. He struggles to find genuinity in people’s actions, and in turn feels “lousy and depressed,” by nearly everything. Holden is constantly seen bringing down the adult world. It is shown he has an inner conflict between his adult and child self, leading him to feeling lost and without a place. He is disgusted by the adult world describing it as a place filled with “phonies” but, views adolescence as a source of happiness. He shows a direct fear of change by stating, “The best thing...was that everything always stayed right where it was.” (pg. 135). As Holden is being pushed out of his childhood and into an area where he feels out of place, it is only inevitable that this would be a source of his depression. Both of these internal conflicts add to Holden Caulfield’s

descent.

Holden’s recovery is possible, but only with time, effort and the help of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Although, Holden has many deep rooted problems and a nihilistic, cynical viewpoint Cognitive Behavioural Therapy would work to counterattack those thoughts and would, in turn, allow him to have a better chance to see himself, the environment and others in a softer light. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is 70-80% effective and when coupled with medication or antidepressants it is shown to be most effective. If Holden was to take Prozac, a drug that allows the serotonin that is present in someone’s system to stick around longer and have an increased opportunity to regulate his or her mood, it is proven that after 18 weeks while coupled with CBT 85% of the participants receiving combination therapy were "much" or "very much" improved .This type of treatment would work best on Holden because of the way it is intended to help identify troubling situations or conditions in one’s life, allow one to become aware of their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs about these problems, identify negative or inaccurate thinking, and finally reshape these negative or inaccurate thoughts. Holden would be able to work through these specific steps alongside a therapist. But, this method of approach would only work if Holden decided to go along with it as it is largely based upon one’s thoughts and cooperation with the process. As explained above Holden is in a disturbed state of mind, and is largely basing his predictions and interpretations on a biased view of the situation, making the difficulty that he faces seem much worse. CBT specifically helps people to correct these misinterpretations. If Holden were to undergo a combination treatment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Prozac he must be prepared to be persistent, open and brave, and if he were then over time recovery could be possible.