Holden Caulfield experiences flashbacks to the traumatic events that have occurred in his life. Holden is constantly reminded of his younger brother Allie who passed away when he was 11 years old. “So what I did, I wrote about… did, and he had very red hair,” (Salinger 38). The reader can see that Holden is constantly thinking of Allie, and that Allie was one of the people in Holden’s life that made him happy. Holden’s ability to remember the vivid details of Allie and his life prove that these traumatic events, occurring upon those who brought him joy, will always be with him. Not only does Allie pass away, but Holden’s close friend, James Castle, jumped out of the window and committed suicide. “Finally, what he did… didn’t even go to jail,”
Allie was Holden’s everything, he looked up to his brother and respected him. Holden never really had anyone to discipline him or tell him right from wrong. Even though Holden liked too seem as if he was already older then he actually is, he is still a young kid who needs his parents. Allie was Holden’s angel who took care of him while his parents couldn’t. Holden is a protagonist that has been through many harsh events throughout his
Therefore, his rebellion both academically and socially in the schools he attends display his resistance to grow up. These behaviors he shows, are psychological effects he develops due to Allie’s death, hence creating a negative impact on his life. In addition to Allie’s death causing Holden to act out, it also seems to cause neglection in Holden’s life. Just like Holden, it seems his mother has not gotten over
During Catcher, the whole story is set as a first person recount from the view of Holden Caulfield, but during this recount, there are some small instances of Holden thinking of his life as a child. The recount is from Holden’s point of view as he is obtaining psychiatric help, after he has been found to have mental issues. The majority of these small flashback moments during the text are about Holden’s younger brother Allie, who passed away with Leukemia when Holden was a few years younger. Holden holds strong and happy memories of his younger brother’s life, and during this extended flashback, he tells the author about his brother, and although Allie does not take part within the story, the audience learns lots about him. Holden is very much traumatised by the death of his younger brother, and this traumatic event has helped in making Caulfield the socially awkward person that he is during the recount.
" This is another example of Holden holding onto Allie even after his death. The last is acceptance as Holden finally seems to accept the death of his brother at the end of chapter twenty- five as he watches Phoebe ride the carousel. He worries about Phoebe falling off to grab the gold ring and comes to a conclusion. “ The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for
Arrested development works in more than one fashion for Holden Caulfield, as not only does he desperately cling to the past, but his five stages of grief are similarly slowly processed—namely denial. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden as he adapts to life alone in the city, and is forced to deal with the consequences of living in the real world. After projecting his issues onto others throughout the novel, only by accepting his own shortcomings does Holden finally start taking steps towards changing his life for the better. Holden’s little brother, Allie, passed away some years before the story takes place, and is one of the biggest factors in his refusal to let go of the past.
Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by. The death of his brother Allie has left him in a tough spot. Holden doesn’t exactly know how to deal with this. The different stages of grief are represented through Holden. Holden shows denial and anger when he flashbacks to one of his memories after his brother’s death.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual”. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s lies become habitual throughout the book. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy, who has been kicked out of several schools including, most recently, Pencey Prep. Holden’s younger brother, Allie, died when Holden was only thirteen and his older brother is too busy working for Hollywood to care about Holden. Although his mother cares immensely for him, Holden saddens her by failing academically.
Allie’s death had a huge impact on Holden’s mental health, as he and Allie were really close brothers. If Allie never dies, Holden might not have been in such a bad mental state throughout the book. On the night Allie dies of Leukemia, Holden sleeps in the garage and breaks all the windows “just for the hell of it.” (Chapter 5) Holden further adds, “I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer.” (Chapter 5)
But that one day, I didn’t. He didn’t get sore about it– he never got sore about anything– but I keep thinking about it anyway, when I get very depressed.” (Salinger 110) Holden is melancholy looking back on this because he wishes he could spend more time with his little brother, who passed away when Holden was only 13. There’s nothing Holden can do to change that now, but he feels like being able to go back and change that moment would bring him some kind of peace. Guilt can also be a big part of the bargaining experience, so Holden thinking back specifically to the occasion when he turned away Allie is not surprising at all.
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
Catcher in the Rye In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, the narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield a sixteen year old junior undergoes a series of changes. Holden learns multiple life changing lessons; one of them is you must grow up. In the beginning of the novel, Holden starts out as “that kid”; the one with the parents who expect him to get into an ivy league school, and end up with a kid with no intentions of doing so. At the beginning of the book it is very apparent that Holden lacks motivation; he also has hit rock bottom.
People do not expect the death of a loved one to occur at such a young age, and so abruptly like Allie 's death. The smashing of the windows shows the huge impact that he had on Holden, and how upset he was that he no longer had his brother by his side. Holden was uncertain in how to deal with this upsetting change in his life, resulted in aggressive behavior. Holden was also exposed to another traumatic event in his life during his time at Pencey. After being introduced to one of Holden 's classmates Castle he states, ¨Finally, what he did, instead of
The repercussions of Allie’s death had immediate effects on Holden’s
Holden thought about James Castle when Phoebe asked him about what he likes, Holden randomly think about the two nuns and James Castle, but this is not a coincidence. James Castle is a Holden’s classmate at Elkton Hills, whom died nobly, not surrendering to Phil Stabile and his six friend’s oppression and violence about taking the word back about Stabile. Similarly, Holden seize the adult world with phoniness, and struggle though out his teenager life, willing to sacrifice himself to save children from falling into this phoniness world. Readers understand the significance about Holden’s worship to James Castle and is motivated by his action, but Holden sees very limited information about the significance between himself and James
Holden constantly relives his past, which can indicate his diminishing mental state along with post-traumatic stress disorder. A common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder is reliving the past, or being unable to move on. He repeatedly has flash backs of moments shared with Allie when he is depressed. He wishes to be able to modify scenarios such as when he kept his brother from going out with him and his friend, Bobby. He finds comfort in recreating scenarios in his head, because he believes that it would have helped Allie live.