Catcher In The Rye Mental Illness Analysis

Pre and Post Mental Illness: Compare and Contrast The Catcher In The Rye and Silver Linings Playbook

About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people will have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at some point in their lives and about 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year (National Center for PTSD). From this piece of information, I can tell that mental illness is common and people need to seriously pay attention on it. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield faces some mental problem such as bipolar disorder and PTSD. In the movie Silver Linings Playbook (2012) by David O. Russell, the main character Pat also faces those mental illness. The different is that Holden Caulfield is a teenage in the stage before
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The representations of mental issues in Catcher are shown through Holden’s personal experience and attitude. First, He suffers the traumas from the pass. “I couldn’t stand it. I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his souls in the Heaven, but I couldn’t stand it any way. I just wish he wasn’t there” (Salinger 172). From this quote, it obviously that Holden misses his brother Allie. He always recalls this memory and suffers the stress of his brother’s death. The kid James Castle’s suicide reaction also makes Holden suffer which can show by the following quote, “He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him” (188). This blood scene stimulate Holden which has negative effect on Holden’s psyche. He feels sorry for Castle’s death, and this tragedy event acts as trauma for Holden. Besides, those memory from the pass can affect his behavior. “I thought probably I’d get pneumonia and die. I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral and all” (171). The memory from the pass makes him starts to worry about himself. Second, he has negative attitude toward the world around him. He calls people he meets phony. For example, in the Wicker Bar he calls all people in the bar phonies and says the place is sophisticated. “It’s one of those places that are supposed to be very sophisticated and all, and the phonies
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There are traumatic events that have terrible influence in their psyche. For Holden, he is suffering his brother, Allie’s death. For Pat, he is suffering betray of his wife. For Tiffany, she is suffering her husband’s death. Suffers from the pass has extremely influence for those main character’s mind. Contrasting the main character in the book and film, they ends up to have absolutely opposite results. Holden ends up facing the mental treatment, while Pat overcomes his mental illness. There must have reasons that cause this result. They both have mental problem. However, there is reason lead to different results for those same mental ill. The attitude characters hold are different. Holden has negative attitude toward people and sociality. However, Pat holds positive attitude and hope for better future. He still missing his wife, and this is considered as a power to lead him overcome the metal ill. Pat also finds his second paragraph of love which is the main factor enable Pat to overcome his mental ill. That’s essential for modern people who now suffers the pressure from the society and faces a mental problem. People should always stay positive. Just like the sentence in Silver, “you have to do everything can and if you stay positive you have a shot at a silver