Holden adores Allie and is very distressed about his premature death when Holden was thirteen because of leukemia. It is easy to say that Allie’s death was the beginning of a downward spiral in Holden’s life. According to Holden, Allie was one of the most lovable people. “You’d have liked him… He was terrifically intelligent… But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member of the family. He was also the nicest”.
Holden has so many courteous words to describe Allie. The impact of losing his brother seems to be very difficult for Holden. Salinger uses Allie’s death to show that cancer, primarily pediatric cancer, has a huge effect on the child’s family. Holden continues on stating that when he was thirteen “...they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them.
Sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't” (Salinger 63). We can see Holden has clash of his emotions as he is trying to find himself out. He does not understand sex and tries to get it out of his life. Yet he is overtaken by his emotions to have relationships with girls because he is getting older and thinking about things like that.
Allie is described as, “ the most intelligent member in the family,” and, “the nicest, in lots of ways.” (21). Holden obviously cares deeply for Allie and loves him; his death has affected him for the worst. Holden’s actions and feelings for the world are likely due to the death of Allie because once Allie died, Holden probably felt empty, sad, and angry at the world. He is shown to have empathy towards young children because of his deep connection with Allie. Although Holden gets along with children, he has trouble fitting in with society.
Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.
In J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye the character Holden is shown to have many different psychological issues and personality traits. Holden seems to be very emotionally unstable and his exhibits of feelings. As the novel progresses, we observe all of Holden’s memories of his emotions and psychological breakdowns. Holden is unable to cope with his psychological and mental issues causing him to have spikes of emotion always leading him to another emotional collapse. Holden’s initial issue is that he is emotionally unstable.
Although his body is growing in this period of puberty, his injury still persists. Holden says that his hand “still hurts” himself “once in a while”, but it still lingers. This is representative of how Holden is currently still carrying his grief of Allie’s death, manifesting itself in his lack of motivation in school while he is maturing to become an adult. This is important considering Holden is currently at an area where he is neither an adult nor child, but
People around us has a great influence on the formation of our character. The main personage of the novel Catcher in the rye by J. D. Salinger is a seventeen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who appears to be very depressed and lonely. Due to his mental state he failed his exams, again got knocked out from another school, and quarreled with some mates. Through the pages of the novel we saw that Holden was trying to make good relationships with family members and some acquaintances, but at the same time, he pushed them away due to his behavior. He really loved his family, especially his younger brother and sister.
After Holden found James Castle’s body when he committed suicide, Mr. Antolini warned Holden not to die nobly for an unworthy cause, but Holden might think otherwise. For instance, “ Holden emphasizes that the guy is week and little, he has no chance of physically standing up to the bullies. Rather than be ‘phony’ by taking back the insult, he jumps. To Holden this might sound a lot more like a noble cause...” (Shmoop). Holden might disagree with his teacher because he believes that James Castle is the one brave enough to end it
How would you feel if you were outcasted by society, looked down upon by everyone else around you, never to fit in. This is the life that Holden Caulfield has to live. Holden Caulfield is a character in the book, The Catcher In the Rye, that is viewed as a misfit but assigned this label by society around him. Holden just has a different perspective on the world than everyone else, causing him to be seen as lower than everyone else. Holden doesn't believe in how materialistic things make you happy, he doesn't agree with people pretending to be someone that they truly are not, and he wants to protect children from the world and keep their innocence for as long as he can.