Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis

The novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” involves an older teenager named Holden who surrounds himself with his pessimistic emotions, gradually affecting him in tense situations. Often, he refuses to comprehend situations which ends miserably for him. A major role for his reckless actions are caused by his fearful feelings that he has not suppressed, “Contaminated he is, of course, by vulgarity, lust, lies, temptations, recklessness, and cynicism” (Peterson 1). Throughout the novel, his unfavorable emotions were represented as well as the negative outcome of his situations. In that moment of time, his thoughts affect his actions as a result of becoming further depressed than he already happens to be. If he was able to analyze the situation and think logically, he would avoid multiple situations without feeling pessimistic about his choices.

Grief is difficult thing to have to go through alone. In “The Catcher In The Rye” Holden experiences many of the stages of grief after the loss of his brother. Holden’s journey through the seven stages of grief were shown over the course of a few days.

In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

Almost every person will have to say goodbye to a person they love who has died. When an adolescent goes through this experience it could traumatize them. John Green once said “Grief does not change you. It reveals you.” In other words, the loss of a loved one doesn’t change who you are but reveals your character. A novel that explores the effect of grief on a young person is The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger. The Catcher In The Rye is a novel about a teenager, Holden Caulfield, who is confused and makes life changing mistakes because of his inability to accept his brother Allie’s death. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross made up the five stages of grief. The stages are denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. Holden goes through these five stages throughout the novel. Salinger uses the baseball mitt, the red hunting hat, and the carousel to explore the protagonist struggle to resolve his grief.

Denial and isolation is the first stage of grief. Holden constantly feels like he does not belong in school, at home, or life in general. Holden tells Sally, one of his friends:

Holden loved Allie, and was disturbed from the news of his death. Holden was hospitalized after punching his garage windows. When Holden explained Allie’s traits, he said, “But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways” (Salinger 50).” Holden thought the most of Allie. He thought Allie had the most potential out of anybody he had ever met. He also thought Allie was a genuinely good person, and that he did not deserve to die. One of the greatest causes to depression is a death or a loss. When Holden finally came up with an answer to phoebe’s question to think of something that he liked, Holden’s answer was that he liked Allie. Phoebe told Holden that Allie is dead. Holden then said, “I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all" (Salinger 222-223). Holden was constantly depressed about Allie because he was always thinking of him. Allie was the nicest person Holden had ever met. The death of a person with an impact like that would cause anyone devastation. His mindset makes him believe that no one else will be as good to him as Allie was. He thought the best person that will ever be in his life was gone

How would the death of a loved one affect you? Coming to terms is a difficult process for everyone, especially for Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield, 13, lost his brother, Allie, at 11 to leukemia in Maine in July 18 of 1946. Holden now 17 finds himself coming to terms to young Allie’s death, along with his own problems. After analyzing J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s characterization matures and develops after acknowledging Allie’s death through reflection and this affects the plot by helping Holden come to terms with his own emotional problems.

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

The book, “The Catcher in the Rye” was a book with a very intriguing character named Holden Caulfield. Holden was set to be someone who didn’t like many people nor did he get along well in society. Holden also wasn’t the smartest person nor the was he the most interesting guy but he did go through many things that put him through stress. Many people say that Holden can be described as having angst, anguish, and depression. Holden Caulfield mental problem could be that he have post traumatic stress. Holden shows many signs of having depression and brings back memories of the traumatic things that happened in his life. Holden is a kid who goes through many rough patches in his life that put him in the state of mind that

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very present one” –Albert Einstein. This quote by one of the most impactful men in the world emphasizes that although reality is not set in stone and changes constantly, it is an unavoidable part of life. This means that if someone refuses to accept their realities, it is due to issues within them that are unresolved. Holden, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, has extreme difficulty with facing the world around him, thus resulting in the restriction of him growing and evolving as a character. This is due to multiple reasons which include the fact that he never experienced closure from his brother Allies’ death, he does not want to lose his childhood innocence, he feels as though he does not fit in with society and his damaging obsession with mortality.

Holden never going to Allie’s funeral gives us insight into why Holden is still holding onto Allie. After Allie’s death, Holden still went through experiences that caused his BPD, neglect and separation. During the time following Allie’s death, Holden’s family was in great grieving, making Holden feel isolated and not getting the attention he needed to fully grow mentally as a child (“National Allegiance on Mental Health”). Holden also expresses twice, that his mother is still grieving over Allie’s death by stating his mother, “still isn’t over my brother Allie yet” (Salinger 155). Holden is also never close to anyone. He meets with his family a limited amount of time throughout the year, and is kicked out of schools, giving him no permanent guidance in his life. Holden constantly describes his expulsion as, getting “the ax” (107). He shows a continuous changing in guardians, because of his attachment to both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini, both old school teachers from schools he flunked out of. He also dealt with the separation from D.B. his other brother, who moved to Hollywood, Holden seems to be very inspired by him throughout the novel, but is mad that he left (1).

In the novel “Catcher In The Rye” by J.D Salinger the character Holden goes through a lot of sadness and grief due to the loss of his brother which affected his life severely in the novel. There are five stages of grief which Holden goes through as the novel proceeds. The five stages of grief are isolation and denial, anger, bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Holden goes through these five stages in his own ways which is a very cynical way but in the end he comes to the stage of acceptance.

‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is a classic novel set in the 1950’s. Holden Caulfield is a young 16 year old boy walking through life, hardships, and criticism towards life. Throughout Holden’s story, his odd behavior is displayed in a manner which opens the readers’ eyes to an entirely new persona. One that sees the worst in everything, one that doesn’t see the reality of things, a mind unable to decipher the beauty which the world holds within. Through his behavior and thoughts, the reader is led to believe that, from the start, there’s an abnormality to Holden’s thought process. His hopelessness and lack of motivation are signs of Major Depressive Disorder. Major depressive order is a mental health disorder characterized by mood swings,

In her seminal work on grief and grieving, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross introduced the concept now very well known as the Five (5) Stages of Grief, enumerated chronologically as follows: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In this concept, Kubler-Ross explored and discussed the normative stages that people go through when they experience the loss of a loved one and feel grief as result of this loss. It is also through these stages that people are now more aware of their feelings and thoughts when experiencing grief and the loss of a loved one. While the stages of loss are mainly developed for grief experienced with the death of a loved one, it is a generally accepted framework in understanding feelings of grief when an individual experiences the loss of a significant individual in his/her life. The discussions that follow center on the discussion of Kubler-Ross' 5 Stages of Grief, applied in the context of the Story of Job in the Bible.