Depression Catcher In The Rye

The catcher in the rye tells the story of Holden Caufield, a teenage boy who recently got kicked out from his fourth school. Holden decides to leave the school before he is scheduled to and wanders around New York. Holden shows many symptoms of depression throughout the novel such as, disengaging from activities, not doing his school work and having no interests or hobbies. Holden shows little to no change throughout the novel and does not develop as a character. Holden’s flight reaction is something that stays with him throughout the book.

This is demonstrated in the way that he obsesses over small details and has a tendency to overthink and worry about every decision he makes, leading him to be indecisive in his actions. Additionally, Holden exhibits physical symptoms of anxiety, such as trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, and profuse sweating. Last but not least his avoidance of things he was looking forward to and of things he had been dreading. For example, one scene in the novel that shows Holden as having anxiety is when he is waiting for Sally Hayes at the theatre. As he waits, he becomes increasingly anxious and overwhelmed by his emotions.

In the book, the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Salinger presents the protagonist and narrator Holden Caulfield as a young man stuck between the mental state of childhood and adulthood who is dealing with neglect, confusion, and depression. He is forced to endure anguishing life events that set his mental state into a spiral causing his mental stability to deteriorate significantly at a very young age. A way Salinger displays the concept of depression through Holden’s mindset is by fabricating him as an overly critical and fault-finding character in every environment he’s presented in. Ever since childhood, we learn Holden was a black sheep within the family; we assimilate and learn about his overachieving siblings and his exclusion

A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all

I keep telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in front of Bobby Fallon 's house” (Salinger 98). Holden always keeps a spot in the back of his head for his younger brother so he can communicate with him whenever. By communicating with Allie, Holden feels better about himself, as he can recall past events that he shared with his brother. To add, the death and tormenting of Holden’s former peer, James

Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.

Sickness comes in many forms, but perhaps the most misunderstood form happens mentally. All of the events that happen to the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, are caused in some way or another by his mental illness. Holden Caulfield is a boy who drops out of school and travels to New York City. Holden makes irresponsible decisions like when he travels to New York City by himself without permission which affects him mentally. Holden’s mental illnesses affects his decision making,specifically his decision to stay in school and his inability to connect with people.

According to Dr. Harold, depression occurs when a person’s brain has trouble managing stress such as divorce, loss of a valued friendship, or death of a loved one. Holdens overwhelming emotion caused him to overreact violently without knowing or feeling

After talking about his childhood memories with his brother he states, ¨He is dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You´d have like him.¨ Then after talking about Allie’s old baseball mitt he said, ¨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¨(43-44). Allie’s death is used to show the unexpected change that Holden had experienced during his life. Allie was only eleven when he died, and Holden was thirteen.

I was already sort of sorry I 'd let the thing start rolling, but it was too late now” (Salinger 19). This quote goes to show that Holden is trying to be a different person. He normally would accept a night with an escort but as stated in the quote he was so depressed he couldn 't even think about his decisions. A later quote shows that he doesn 't even use his real name he uses the name “Jim Steele”.

Holden exhibits many of the physical symptoms of depression, such as changes in appetite, unexplained physical problems, and increased consumption of alcohol (Mayo Clinic). By the end of the novel, Holden experienced a complete nervous breakdown and displays many of the symptoms of depression. Once in the novel Holden mentions his thin physique while at a diner. He says, “I’m a very light eater… That’s why I’m so damn skinny,” (Salinger 120).

When Holden sees him he has nothing bad things to say about him. He says to Sally “‘Why don’t you go on over and give him a big soul kiss, if you know him? He’ll enjoy it. She got sore when I said that’” (Salinger 141).

Holden has a very different way of showing his depression in the novel. His depression is present when he tries to keep his innocence and stray away from adult hood all while trying to keep his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye “. He wants to be that person who catches those kids who are falling off the cliff into adulthood. Holden wants to protect those who are close to him and those that he loves.

Although others may say that Holden was successful on his journey, saying that he grew up he. Holden showed lots of immaturity throughout the novel and was the biggest phony of all.. Holden’s attitude throughout the novel was very immature and made constant poor decisions. While he was still at Pencey he put in no effort and had the attitude that nothing mattered. As he moves on from Pencey and goes to New York, he shows no care for anything as he blows lots of his money and doesn’t even take care of himself. He doesn’t clean himself up or get any sleep because of his attitude towards life.

Although Holden is a fictional character, many of the symptoms he displays during his journey are real and affect real life teens. Teen depression is a serious mental health problem. One of the possible dangers is the probability that it's not temporary and may affect the teen in a