The death of Caulfield’s brother, Allie, clearly leaves a devastating effect on his life and acts as the central cause of his mental illnesses. Allie died of leukemia at the age of eleven in his family’s summer home in Maine. Holden, thirteen at the time, leaves his comfortable life distraught over the loss of his brother and brakes his hand punching the windows out of the garage of their home. He misses Allie's funeral due to the fact that he was in the hospital for psychiatric evaluation, thus leading one to believe some of his problems may have begun to manifest even before his death. One sees that “...the individual identifies with the lost person, so that repressed anger towards the lost person is directed inwards towards the self. The …show more content…
Both stories interpret the lives of adolescent boys journeying through their conflicts and inner confusion to reach adulthood. Gene Forrester, a bright young student at the Devon School experiences some of the same trauma and depression Holden goes through. Gene mentions that “Exposing a sincere emotion openly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide (Knowles), allowing the reader to see his eagerness to feel accepted and not alone. As professionals state, “A mental illness can make you miserable and can cause problems in your daily life, such as at school or work or in relationships” (Mayo Clinic Staff), which affects both Gene and Holden. His friend Phineas suffers a tragic accident which leaves Gene traumatized and unable to comprehend the events of the accident, as he recalls, “… But ever since then I’ve had a feeling that the tree did it by itself… almost as though the tree shook me out by itself” (Knowles). The battle of Gene with himself and Holden with himself creates the similar major conflicts between the novels. In this case, Holden suffers more in The Catcher in the Rye because he struggles with a great depression and he constantly tries to escape his feelings through drinking, sexual intimations, terrible attitude, and attempts of violence and suicide. Likewise, Gene also turns violent due to the stress of his situation, as he explains, “I hit him hard across the face. I didn’t know why for an instant; it was almost as though I were maimed (Knowles), similarly like Holden’s constant mentions of hurting others and his altercations with Stradlater and the bellhop. He undergoes periods of extreme depression and sullenness in which he questions the previous incident, saying, “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence (Knowles) and “I spent as much time
One of the hardships Holden must cope with is his inability to come to terms with death, in particular that of his younger brother, Allie. Holden seems to have experienced a
Secondly, most teenagers have struggles grieving for the loss of of their loved ones. Holden struggles multiples of times to grief for the death of his younger brother, Allie, who died at the age of 11 due to leukemia. Holden writes about Allie for Stradlater’s english homework and tells the reader, “He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class...But it wasn’t just that he as the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anyone...I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because i broke all the windows in the garage. I don 't blame them. I really don 't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the
Holden’s deep depression arose from Allie’s death, and at Holden’s lowest moments, he starts to think about Allie. His depression started when Holden “broke all the goddamn windows with [his] fist” (39). Holden is unable to properly grieve for his brother leaving him in bitter depression with the lingering memories of Allie to bring him comfort. At the park, Holden’s contemplation on his own death leads him back to thoughts about Allie at the cemetery. Holden recalls the feeling of guilt he felt when he had to leave Allie at the cemetery so eventually he stopped going. Allie brings Holden back to reality at the park making him go see Phoebe and eventually Allie’s death reminds Holden of why he can’t leave Phoebe. The pain Holden constantly feels because of Allie’s death drags him deeper into depression, but also gives him some comfort in his toughest times. Holden’s contrast of emotions about Allie portrays his inability to stop thinking about Allie and to accept that Allie is gone.
Allie Caulfield is an important person to Holden and his death affects him greatly. In response to his brother 's passing, Holden attempts to recover by using defense mechanisms as a shield against reality. The concept of defense mechanisms strategies for avoiding or reducing threatening feelings such as fear and anxiety" (Strickland 182). While
John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.
The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about learning and it reveals that people have to have the bad to see the good. This thematic statement connects to both the book and the world that we live in today. Many people want everything to be perfect and beautiful but the hard truth is that it will never completely be that way. Life isn’t going to be the way every stroke was placed on the perfect painting of life that everyone has in there head which was handcrafted from their wildest dreams. Their may be some slippery patches but good will follow close behind.
John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” takes place at a boarding school during World War II. Best friends Gene and Finny have been inseparable during their time at the Devon School. This is until reality hits Gene, and he slowly starts to realize that he is inferior to his best friend. Through the unbalanced friendship between two teenagers in “A Separate Peace,” Knowles illustrates that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power.
In A Separate Peace, the author chooses to use conflicts to show the growth of a character. As a conflict happens there is some sort of growth which the character gains as a result. In fact, there are many conflicts throughout the story that shape the characters in unique ways including Genes jealousy of his best friend, Finny doing dangerous things, and Gene trying to live through Finny. Some conflicts result in good ways some result in bad and it changes the way the character is. The book is a good example of what it is like when a conflict happens in real life, by showing growth of a character after a conflict. The decisions made by the characters will either change them in positive or negative ways; that is an important message that the book tells quite well.
Holden constantly talks about his brother Allie, who had leukemia and passed away while they were still at a young age. Asking him how he felt during those grievous time he says, "I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed
Holden Caulfield values his brother, Allie. When Allie died of Leukemia on July 19, 1946, Holden was left devastated. However, Holden always thought that Allie was the most interesting person that he has ever met. Allie was one person that
Holden Caulfield encounters himself facing issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and parental neglecting that prevents him from completely understanding why it is that he is severely depressed. One of the hardships Holden must cope with is his inability to come to terms with death, of his younger brother, Allie. We often discover
Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually
Holden Caulfield’s family has affected is life tremendously in a physical and mental way. His family has made him take really bad decisions for himself and putting him in a crazy state of mind. The loss of Holden’s younger brother has left Holden emotionally drained. Allie, Holden’s younger brother who died of cancer, left Holden with a huge emptiness inside of him throughout the whole entire story. The type of relationship Holden had with his brother was a devoting relationship for Holden, more than any other relationship.
Undoubtedly, skeletons within Caulfield’s past continually haunt his life and decisions. The major catalyst of Caulfield’s current state is the death of his little brother Allie who died from leukemia. After the death of Allie, Caulfield becomes disconnected from the world and cares for little except his younger sister Phoebe and older brother D.B. This apathy manifests itself through his indifferent
Holden’s connection with his little brother Allie was very special to him. This is evident in the way he talks about Allie. He holds Allie up to these great expectations, saying “You’d have liked him” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) and convincing you how great he was and how intelligent and special he was. You are now able to connect and sympathise for Holden, because he has told you all about the things that mean most to him, and you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him.