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Analysis Of J. D. Salinger's 'Catcher In The Rye'

775 Words4 Pages
Imagine being a depressed teenager who just got expelled from high school, and on the verge of a mental breakdown. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, follows the life of a depressed six foot two and a half inch, partially gray-haired, and woefully angular sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Recovering from a recent breakdown, Holden tells his story from a mental institution in California. His older brother D.B. is a successful writer in Hollywood, and his younger sister Phoebe is attending elementary school in New York City. At thirteen years of age, Holden was forced to enter adulthood when his brother Allie died from leukemia. Instead of seeing pulchritude, Holden started to view the world as an atrocious place, populated by phonies who do not understand him. At times, he averts social contact as a result of depression. Holden struggles to cope with Allie’s death as he alienates himself from society and suffers from loneliness. Holden decides to sequester himself to evade relationships that will result in awkwardness, rejection, or the pain he felt when Allie died. By alienating himself, Holden believes he is safe from loss. In the novel, Holden fantasizes a life in which he is a deaf mute. He says “I thought what I 'd do was, I 'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn 't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody” (Salinger ). Being a deaf-mute will ensure that Holden can’t communicate with anybody. People will leave him
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