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Nervous Breakdown In Catcher In The Rye

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Have you ever had a nervous breakdown? In the play Catcher In the Rye the main character Holden experiences varies of nervous breakdowns and it affects his life and people around him. Holden's depression comes from different reasons like the death of his brother and a classmate, his love for Jane, and his troubles in school were the main reasons for his depression. Throughout the course of the novel, Holden showed many signs of a nervous breakdown like the death of his little brother,his classmate dying, and his relationship with a girl he likes but never gets a real chance with her.
One of the first steps of Holden's breakdown was the death of his younger brother Allie. His brother’s death wasn't his fault he couldn't save his brother from having leukemia, so he has a desire to help others, and do what he wished he could have done for his brother Allie. Holden's brother having leukemia did not just kill him, but it killed holden as well because they were so close to each other. The night his brother passes away Holden sleeps in the garage and breaks the windows with his bare arms and goes to the hospital for this. …show more content…

James Castle committed suicide after being bullied by some boys at Holden's school, the death of his classmate really affected holden emotionally. Holden has been witnessing to many deaths for such a young age. The death of his classmate really traumatized him because James was wearing Holden's jacket when he committed suicide and that had a big impact in his life. Holden starts seeing the world as a dark place Because of these experiences, Holden must view death as an escape from a dark and tough world. In the play he said that if he were to go to war that he wanted to be shot on the spot rather than having to struggle throughout the war. Holden starts seeing the world and his life with no purpose and hates living and wonders if he should just try to live life or avoid

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