Failure and suffering are two ideas strongly depicted in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both authors use their writing to show the effects suffering has on their character’s feelings and their actions.
When beginning the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the reader finds out that the narrator, Holden, is telling his story from a rest home or a home for the mentally unstable. This gives the reader an insight to what state he is in mentally. Throughout the rest of the story, Holden explains his past and gives the reader more information on his personality. The reader learns that Holden had a little brother named Allie, who died of leukemia just three years before the story is told. Holden’s only fond memories are the ones of his younger brother, and he mentions that he had a nervous breakdown the night of Allie’s death and had to be psychoanalyzed. He explains, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 39). This proves that the death of Holden’s younger brother has affected him deeply and altered
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his mental health. Holden also mentions his infatuation with Jane, a childhood friend, and the story strongly suggests that she was sexually abused as a child.
For instance, he mentions to Stradlater, “…all I ever saw him do was booze all the time…and run around the goddam house, naked. With Jane around and all” (Salinger 32).When Holden mentions the events that lead the readers to this conclusion, he acts as if he does not know what happened. Holden appears to be very smart; therefore, he is not completely oblivious to what happened with Jane. The reader can infer that Holden is blocking out the images from the past, rather than being unaware of the events that happened. These two events can be seen as extremely traumatizing. Holden’s previous mental breakdowns and tendency to block out memories are a product of the suffering he faced as a
child. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” has also had an experience with suffering. Her numerous struggles are evident throughout the entire story. For example, she mentions having a baby that she is not allowed to see. Due to her actions and the feelings she reveals to the reader in the story, the reader may conclude that she suffers from postpartum depression and anxiety, which undoubtedly affects her behavior. The reader can also infer that the suffering that the narrator faces due to her anxiety is one of the reasons why she is so fascinated by the wallpaper in her room; this is an enormous contributor to the plot of the story. The speaker also unintentionally depicts her struggle with isolation that is forced upon her by her husband. The narrator’s husband, John, does not take her seriously and makes decisions for her based on her health. She explains John by saying, “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Gilman 2). The reader can see that her husband holds a significant amount of power in their relationship. With this power, he diagnoses the narrator with “nervous depression” and makes sure that she is isolated from everyone else and kept in a room alone. Suffering from the loneliness her husband forces her into is another reason for the state of insanity that the narrator reaches at the end of the story. Overall, the effects of suffering are very relevant to the plots in both The Catcher in the Rye and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The suffering each character faces in both the novel and the short story affect the way the character’s act and respond to some of the circumstances they encounter.
In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in The Rye Salinger writes about the main character Holden Caulfield and his life. Holden is a teenager who comes from a wealthy family, he loves his family and lives very happy until the death of his brother Allie. After his brother died Holden becomes troubled, being kicked out of school again and again developing a negative view of the world. Holden throughout the book shows anger,denial, and acceptance over the loss of his brother.
As Eugene McNamara stated in his essay “Holden Caulfield as Novelist”, Holden, of J.D. Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, had met with long strand of betrayals since he left Pencey Prep. These disappointments led him through the adult world with increasing feelings of depression and self-doubt, leading, finally to his mental breakdown.
Holden begins his story of his grieving process when he tells of his memory of his night in the garage the same night Allie had died. This is when Holden expresses the step anger and denial. Holden tells of how he broke the windows in the garage. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it… it was very stupid I have to admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie (Salinger, 39).” Holden expresses his anger through the physical force he applied to the windows, and he expresses his denial when he does not clearly state why he does it and does not fully own up to his actions that he committed that
Imagine if your best friend or someone close to you suddenly dies of a fatal disease. The death of this person would physically and mentally inflict trauma. All though the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a grieving seventeen year old because he endures a traumatic experience at the age of 13. His 11 year old brother, Allie, dies of leukemia, and this affects Holden throughout the novel. It causes him to yearn for his innocence and childhood back because he wants to return to the stage in his life when there are no worries. He realizes that it is not realistic to become a child again, and he begins to accept the fact that he must grow up and set an example for his sister, Phoebe. Growing up with the loss of a close brother, Holden wants to be a protector of all innocence, and later in the novel, he begins to notice he must find a solution to his traumatic experiences in order to become successful in his lifetime.
The origins of Holden’s disillusionment and the reason that it all started is the death of his younger brother which he was very fond of and admired, Allie, three years ago. The death of Allie is very significant in Holden’s mind since it is an event which he remembers quite clearly at multiple occasions during the book. For example, when Holden is writing a descriptive composition for his roommate Stradlater, he decides to write about Allie’s baseball mitt since it is the only thing on his mind. “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was
In Catcher in the Rye, Holden loses his brother Allie at a young age just like Conrad. He cannot find a meaning in life afterwards. School and friends don’t matter to him anymore and he wanders through the city of New York searching for some kind of answer. In both books the characters are teenagers and still full of youth. Conrad is on the swim team and participates in activities while Holden is great at English and is a keen observer of life. After their brothers’ death they realize that they are not the same people anymore and that they have to start all over. They are struggling just to make it through the day and to find motivation to keep going. Conrad lays in bed in the morning thinking of a reason to get up, he tries to come up with a guiding principle to help him get through the day. He says to himself, “It’s all right to feel anxious. Allow yourself a couple of bad days now and then. (1)”
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, The main character Holden, is a lost individual that has certain people that have immense impact on his life although they never appear in the novel. Holden’s Journey starts when he runs away from his school and travels to New York City. In the city he has many experiences with girls and other people that eventually make him realize home is where he needs to be. Holden finally decides to go home to his family and especially to see his sister, Phoebe. Allie and Jane are two characters that Holden talks in thinks about a good amount in the novel, and because of it they impact his thoughts as well as his behaviors throughout his time in New York City, and in the novel as a whole.
American Literature is widely known for possessing themes of disillusionment. Faulkner, Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway dominate this category of literature. However, the most influential piece of American Literature is arguably J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. What makes this piece of art stand so far out from any other work of literature is the attributes that make this novel so relatable. The source of this raw, real emotion that completely captivates the reader is Salinger himself. The Catcher in the Rye ‘s main character Holden Caulfield is undeniably Salinger. This work of fiction nearly resembles an autobiography. J.D. Salinger uses his novel to express his disillusionment through motifs, pathos, and symbols.
However, his feelings suggest that the true reason for his depression is his loss of Innocence. When he was 13 years old, he lost his little brother Allie to leukemia. Allie meant a lot to Holden. He even becomes a symbol in the book. Allie is the one who keeps Holden from falling of the cliff, he’s the reason that he hasn’t lost his innocence yet. “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a bastard—my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him.” (Sallinger) In this part, Allie plays the role as the Catcher in the Rye and keeps Holden from falling of the cliff. This is why i believe that Holden wants to become a “ Catcher in the Rye”. He wants to help people like Allie has helped him. He feels that it's what he’d meant to do with his
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is in a rest home, where he speaks about his past and discusses his thoughts and feelings of his memories. Holden tells about his life including his past experiences at many different private schools, most recently Pensey Prep, his friends, and his late brother Allie which led to Holden’s own mental destruction.
Holden Caulfield suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder throughout the course of the novel. In fact, the root of all his problems come from Allie’s passing; he died from leukemia. Holden used to be extremely close with him and his imminent death changed his entire life and psyche. Holden seems to relive the event of his beloved little brother Allie’s death over and over. “What is clear, however, is that many of the symptoms Holden displays in the course of the novel mirror the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The death of his younger brother, Allie was a traumatic event in Holden Caulfield’s life and is perhaps at the root of the depression he battles in the novel. The death of a sibling can trigger post-traumati...
Holden is a pathological liar. He lies, some times for no reason. Holden says his name is Rudolf Schmidt, who is acutely the janitor, to Mrs. Morrow on the train. He continues to lie throughout the conversation and avoids getting together by saying he has a tumor in his brain. This is the type of lies Holden tells. One reason for this might be
Holden has a near obsession with the death of his younger brother Allie, who died at age thirteen due to leukemia. Holden had punched and broke all the windows in the garage out of anger; he says that his hands still hurt from the incident. Throughout the novel, Holden dwells on Allies’ death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had written poetry, which Holden reads, from the baseball mitt. Towards the end of the book, Holden proves again that he can’t cope with death. Phoebe, his younger sister, is putting him on the spot by asking him what he likes, but Holden can only think of two nuns and a boy, James W. Castle. James W. Castle was a boy who Holden had lent his sweater to, Castle died unfortunately by being thrown out of a window wearing Holden’s sweater. Another thing that haunts Holden is the fact that during roll call in class, his last name always is called after Castles’ last name. After the brief moment of reminiscing, Holden irritates Phoebe by saying, “I like Allie…”. He has trouble acknowledging the death of his brother.
First, in the essay, “In Memoriam: Allie Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye” (1982), that was written by Edwin Haviland Miller. The author disputes why we should read the book. The night after Allie's death Holden slept in the garage and broke "all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.” As you can tell Holden is distraught of the fact that Allie died. Unfortunately, he went a little overboard with his anger had to be hospitalized because of his actions. He loved his brother so much and had so much pain during his death. Allie had died from leukemia. (par.4) “On several occasions, Holden comments that his mother has never gotten over Allie's death, which may or may not be an accurate appraisal of Mrs. Caulfield since the first-person narrative makes it difficult to judge.” According to this quote, Holden’s mother has been through so much. She never got over it because that is her son and it takes time. (par.3) He decides to call up Jane Gallagher, but by "mistake"--it is almost a comedy of errors--he dials Sally Hayes and makes up for his insults. Holden had tried to call Jane, but on purpose and decided to act like
Through out The Catcher in the Rye, one of the most persistent aspects of Holden and the book are his obsession with innocence, and his inability to move to adulthood, which is inevitable. Holden has experienced one event of abuse yet he says, “I really hate when this kind of stuff happens, it always seem to happen to me” (213). This shows Holden has probably been abused before, and abuse as a child is likely to lead to psychological disorders. This may show why Holden is stuck in the past and wants to keep his innocence, which is futile.