The Character Holden In J. D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye

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. We learn that through the book he has many breakdowns and outbursts of emotion and feelings. Holden says, “He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946.” Holden says this with deep sadness and sympathy for the death of his brother. However, his day to day emotions are entirely different. His view of life is that everyone and everything in our society is a “phony.” This is apart of his unstableness because it shows that he is unable to hold back his mood swings. Holden could be talking about one topic with sadness for example and then switch right into another topic in which he shows anger and frustration. Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded and isolated from the world around him. As the story progresses we begin to

Holden is depressed by lots of things but he becomes depressed by Mr. Spencer’s physical illness. He said, “It was pretty depressing. [He’s] not too crazy about sick people, anyway. What made it even more depressing, old Spencer had on this very sad. . . .” We learn from Mr. Antolini in chapter twenty-four that the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation and being able to view his own flaws. Holden has so much personal pride that he easily overlooks his own flaws but views the flaws in others to motivate himself. But anything from Holden’s perspective can seem depressing and