When Holden heard that Allie died he stupidly punched out all of his garage windows and overnight grew half a head of gray hair. Isn’t that just like a thirteen year old to act out on impulse their emotions? Isn’t that what Holden did when he left Pencey he seemed to be destroyed when he left there with three days of down time. In those three days Holden showed us how far he had really gone into his grief and immaturity. Over the course of those three days Holden is constantly saying “I felt so sad that I wanted to die” constantly lying to himself and others hiring prostitutes and saying I love yous, making plans to go away, seeing museums, sneaking into houses being petted by a perverted teachers and unknowingly convincing his sister to come with him on some of his
Allie was very intelligent, kind, and one of the few people Holden truly loved. When he passed away from leukemia, Holden broke down and stayed a night in his garage, where he destroyed all of the windows with his fists. Allie’s death left both psychological and physical scars on Holden, which have a subtle, but important influence on the rest of the novel. Although I have
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.
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.
The loss of Allie links directly to Holden's loss of innocence. “…the night he [Allie] died…I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it…I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie” (Salinger 39). Salinger uses Holden
Allie’s death was one of the most fundamental changes that happened in Holden’s life so far. At points in the story, Holden can’t stop thinking about death. This leads him to think about Allie’s death. “In Chapter 20, Holden, at his most depressed moment, is walking at night in Central Park.
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
Holden says it "drives [him] crazy if somebody gets killed...and it's somebody else's fault," referring to Mercutio in this instance. However, his statement also applies to Allie, who died from leukemia through no fault of his own. Holden expresses his frustration and disillusionment with the world in this situation. Holden has already informed us that his parents are apathetic to his situation: after he shows his frustration at his brother's death by punching out the windows, instead of addressing his grief sympathetically, Holden's parents attempt to send him to be "psychoanalyzed". Holden should be diagnosed with teen grief, rather be sent to a mental institution, an unhealthy, oppressive environment which would dramatically worsen his condition, because of a personality disorder that he does not have.
Holden meets few prominent mentors throughout the novel, who offer ephemeral relief to his problems, allowing for itinerantly to the past instead of living in the present. Allie, Holden’s brother, is a significant mentor who makes Holden reminisce on positive experiences with him before he passes away. Furthermore, Holden struggles long-term when Allie passes away and violently reacts, displaying his impaired judgement due to the stress of losing a family member ( Salinger 38-39). Holden admires his brother for being able to work past hardships and emotionally express himself through his unique poetry on his baseball mitt, which becomes a symbolic item to Holden when remembering Allie. Holden’s other prominent mentor is his sister, Phoebe, who sticks by his side,
She is very dear to Holden and is almost like his best friend. Allie Caulfield is Holden’s younger brother who had tragically died at age eleven from leukemia. Holden used to be very close to Allie due to them only being two years apart. ‘Till that day, Holden still kept Allie’s left-handed baseball glove from when he was very young.
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.
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
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.
Furthermore, our second song that we 've come back to on Holden 's play list describes Holden and his brother Allie 's relationship, this song See you again by Wiz Khalifa concerns losing somebody near you, that is analogous to Holden and Allie that were conjointly shut before Allie died. This song is immaterial to Holden as a result of he will relate to once he lost his brother, “Good things we 've been through, That I 'll be standing right here talking to you, 'Bout another path, I know we loved to hit the road and laugh, But something told me that it wouldn 't last.” This song relates to Holden and his brother Allie 's relationship regarding losing somebody near you, and Holden and Allie were shut before Allie died. Furthermore, Holden can be related to these lyrics not only because of Allie 's death impact Holden 's life tremendously, but because it still hurts Holden even though he doesn 't admit to it, but you still can get that vibe from him. Therefore, Allie 's death wedged a Holden 's life staggeringly and it still hurts Holden despite the fact that he does not admit to that, however, you continue to will get that ambiance from him which