The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

To be young is to be full of bliss, ignorance, and innocence. The world is whatever the child wants it to be. The child is happy living in a pristine world, until one day when that pristine world gets shattered. Death brings the child to reality like a shovel cutting into wet cement. It is hard to overcome for a child because it is so foreign to them. Death leaves a scar on every person, but fo a child the wound is harder to mend because of their ignorance of death and innocence. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger due to Holden’s experience of the death of a close family member, he is left with unresolved feelings of depressions and loneliness, and an adoration of children.

Holden Caulfield was so young when it happened. It, is referring to the day when his little brother, Allie, died of leukemia when Holden was just thirteen. Holden was very close with Allie, so when he died it caused him to sink into a deep depression. Holden often speaks of Allie throughout the book and there is never a negative characteristic said about him. For example, when Allie is first introduced in the novel Holden states,

But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair (Salinger 38).

Holden not only liked him the best out of the entire family, but he idolized Allie. He though that Allie was the most special person in the entire world. He saw Allie as forgiving, kind, and understanding. Allie was different in a good way though. He was the contradiction to the stereotype of red haired people and that is what Holden loved about him. So, when A...

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...tive, and innocent, so is it wrong of nature to have a child feel the effects of death so young; to have them feel true sadness so young? There is so much sadness and pain in the world that it only seems right that a child experiences happiness for an extended amount of time in their life. If a young child does feel the sting of death then he/she is forever scarred. Death is an everlasting scar, one cannot simply get rid of. No, it is eternal, therefore, it is important that a child be blissful for as long as he/she can. Even though death is not something one can prevent, it is something that, when properly grieved and understood, can be easier to cope with. One must resolve the feelings that he/she feels after a death, he/she must pop that scar tissue, for if one does not, then he/she will feel the pain for a much longer period of time just as Holden did.