Depression in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger Essay

The death of Holden’s brother Allie at a young age adds to Holden’s negativity as well as stopping Holden from accepting inevitable change. Allie dies immaturely of leukemia. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (p. 39). Holden is in the hospital because he broke his fist, and he was unable to attend Allie’s funeral. Holden has trouble accepting Allie’s death because he never said goodbye to Allie. His relationship with Allie is similar to his maturity. Just as Holden is unable to accept his brother’s death, Holden is not able to accept that

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Caulfield as a manic-depressive. Holden uses three techniques throughout the novel to cope with his depression. He smokes, drinks, and talks to Allie. Although they may not be positive, Holden finds comfort in these three things.

To commence, in the novel, it becomes clear that Holden Caulfield suffers from mental illnesses that impede his ability to apply himself in his education and take care of himself properly. Essentially, the center of these problems is the death of his brother, Allie. For example, Holden describes the night Allie died and how he reacted. He states that, “ [he] slept in the garage the night he died,” and “ broke all the [windows in the garage] with [his] fist” (39). Furthermore, as Holden leaves Pencey Prep to a hotel, he spends time alone with his thoughts. In this hotel, Holden replays memories he

“If there is a god or whatever something somewhere, why have I been abandoned by everyone and everything that known? I 've ever loved? What is the lesson? What is the point? God give me a sign or I have to give up. I can 't do this anymore. Please let me die.” (Kesha,Praying). Depression has always been a problem throughout time and how people deal with it. Even though people have different backgrounds depression seems to affect them in the same way. In the book, Catcher in the Rye, Holden the main character changes after his brother Allie died. Holden seems to never get over his brother 's death which and changes his way of thinking. So how does, Justine of a completely different background who doesn 't lose a

Holden begins to isolate himself by quitting school in a childish manner (Salinger 52). Holden continues to seclude himself when he doesn’t call Phoebe and cuts himself off from his family (Salinger 66). According to Depression in Teens, poor performance in school and withdrawal from friends and family are symptoms of clinical depression. However, Holden’s poor performance in school and social withdrawal are due to his emotional immaturity and not clinical depression. In chapter 24, Mr. Antolini breaks down Holden’s reasons behind his poor performance in school to reveal Holden’s emotional weakness when it comes to authority (Salinger 184). Ironically, Holden begins to see Mr. Antolini as a figure of authority and ignores Mr. Antolini’s advice regarding his future (Salinger 188). Holden’s avoidance of the truth and unreasonable rebellion against authority demonstrates his emotional immaturity, which leads him to social

Oh, Holden. We can’t make up our mind between feeling sorry for him and telling him to just get a grip already. All he wants to do is connect with someone—anyone—but the boy has high standards. Very high standards. Standards so high that only a fourth-grader can live up to them. That’s why Holden Caulfield, suffers from depression.

There are many issues that teens deal with in high school, such as depression, alcohol, friendship troubles, and discrimination. The four novels, The Catcher in the Rye, Unbroken, The Scorch Trials, and Prisoner B-3087 each depict one of these issues. I personally have gone through some of these difficulties during my time in high school, and the experiences have helped made me who am I am today. Throughout J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, struggles with mental issues.

Throughout the novel, Holden thinks about suicide and real deep thoughts. This depression is active when shown troubling events and situations. Quotes that Salinger indicates this depression, “It makes me so depressed I go crazy” (19). This shows that Holden can overreact emotionally to thoughts and include more depressive thoughts into the mix. Holden also mentions about his brother and tries to talk to him spiritually, and thinking that Allie could be alive instead of Holden. So overall this depression that he is in throughout the story influences his thoughts and

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

In J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher In The Rye, Sixteen year old Holden Caulfield resides in a mental facility. He can no longer adhere to daily life because his brother Allie died of leukemia and Holden was unable to go to the funeral, due to him being in the hospital, Holden did not get to properly mourn his brother. He tries to repress the pain he feels for losing Allie. this leaves Holden in a depression. Holden’s depression is revealed through his emotions, words, and his thoughts.

Depression in simple terms is “a state of feeling sad.” There are also more serious cases of depression that require help. The book, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is about Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy, who struggles with depression. This book is a realistic fiction novel about coming of age. Holden’s substance abuse, poor performance in school, and his frequent thoughts about death are all parallels that show the Holden Caulfield does in fact have depression.

Depression is one of the most common behaviors in human. Holden Caulfield had already experienced the emotional pain from his younger brother, Allie. Through Holden’s statement, “I broke all the windows in the garage…I slept in the garage the night Allie died.” (Salinger P.39).After the death of Holden’ brother,

Depression along with other mental illnesses have always been a huge topic that everyone is aware of, yet very little people actually talk about. J.D Salinger challenges society with the task of not only learning but also informing and educating the public about mental illness with this novel. One specific example of how he does this is with Holden's character. Holden gains depression because for his whole life he was constantly rejected by society, and he expresses it by rebelling. Unsurprisingly, since the 1950s teenage depression has skyrocketed. In the year where the book takes place 6% of American teenagers were depressed before they hit adulthood. Unfortunately, Holden is apart of that percentage. In 2016 teenage depression rates reached a shocking high of 20%.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is discovering the actuality of what it means to be a teen. Throughout the book he encounters several situations, such as his brothers’ death, that are forcing him to grow up. Salinger’s message in the book is to explain the main changes during the adolescent transition; depression, mortality, and preservation of innocence.

Studies have shown that 90% of teens who commit suicide are due to a mental illness such as depression. This percentage is extremely high and the suicide rate is only climbing, in 1975 there were 1,594 teen suicides the numbers have now escalated to 2,061 teen suicides. Often, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, a victim of depression, mentions repetitively having suicidal thoughts. The author of “The Catcher and Rye”, J. D. Salinger, illustrates throughout the book that Holden is trying to run away from his problems. Holden doesn’t have the average teenage lifestyle he has dealt with being kicked out of four high schools, his brother Allie’s death, and not having the guidance or support of his parents. Over the course of the three day timeline, the reader sees Holden reach lower rock bottom, the rarity of happiness, and Holden’s depression growing to the point of explosion. In “The Catcher in the Rye”, the author uses the fish and ducks; snowball; Allie and his baseball mitt to reveal that for young and fragile people, depression can be overwhelming and debilitating because they don’t have the maturity and skill to deal with it properly.