Holden Caulfield : A Psychological Analysis Of Holden In The Rye

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

J.D. Salinger 's "The Catcher in the Rye" portrays a troubled teen in New York City. Over the few days the novel depicts, the boy displays his critical and unhealthy mindset. Eventually he has a mental breakdown. Through psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield, one may suggest that Allie 's death, social development, and an identity crisis are large contributing factors in Holden 's mental breakdown.

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

Throughout the entire book, he is seen idealizing his brother Allie, and his sister Pheobe. He holds himself back from greatness and just gives the self-deprecating thoughts. He never once thinks he is smart. We often see him slightly berating himself as to think he can’t become something great. We the readers know that he is a smart, strong, and to some extent brave character, but he can never get over the fact his brother and sister are “better” than him. I feel sorry for Holden for not knowing how to cope with certain emotions, just like how he can’t control himself when Stradlater was talking about how dumb it was Holden has written the paper over a baseball glove, not knowing that was the glove that was owned and signed by Holden's dead brother

Holden finds it almost normal to have recurring thoughts about suicide. Throughout the novel, Holden brings up scenarios of his defeat and even tells one of his schoolmates mothers that he has a brain tumor. This may be, because he thinks he’s better off with his brother, not forced to grow up in a society full of “phonies”. Holdens perception of adulthood makes him resilient to change, he’s focused on being real which in fact is sabotaging himself, by letting it control his life. He’s been negligent at school by not applying himself, failing classes, and ultimately getting kicked out of prep schools. Knowingly or not, Holden has been holding himself back, hoping to exempt himself from adulthood; which is not working in his favor as whether he accepts it or not, society will ultimately force him into adulthood. Holden experiences a push into adulthood with his encounter with Sunny the hooker. The encounter does not go as planned and once Holden dismisses Sunny, he becomes depressed, suicidal and turns to talking out loud to his dead brother Allie “I felt miserable. I felt depressed, you can’t imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie” (Salinger 110). “Engaged in memories of Allie, lonely in his room, -so lonesome [... ] I almost wished I was dead" (p. 42), Holden sees himself in a Manhattan hotel room alone and overwhelmed in thought of -jumping out the window" ( p. 94).

Holden has experienced clusters of severe trauma throughout his entire life. His brother Allie died of Leukemia a few years ago and Holden was so upset that he punched all of the windows out in his garage that night. Neither Holden, nor his family have yet to deal with the loss of Allie, which clearly affected Holden very much. Also Holden was a witness to James Castle’s suicide at a private school that he once attended. James Castle had been bullied and could no longer handle the situation, so he resorted to suicide by hurling himself out of a building window and falling to his death. Although Holden was not incredibly close with James Castle, he was still affected deeply by the sight of the incident.

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s life is composed of a great amount of contempt; he perceives society through pessimistic lenses, continuously dismissing its ways. Trying to veer off his path to adulthood, Holden often holds people accountable for their “phony” ways. He aims to “save” the children from such an outcome that he makes it his responsibility. The pivotal moment of which he transcends to maturity occurs is when he witnesses the children reach for the gold ring. Rather than blindly believing that he can save the children from sinking into the “evils” of the world and maintain their innocence, he ultimately decides to let them make their own decisions and grow up.

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).

    J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.

Holden recognizes and perceives to be alienated from the adult world thus causing himself to believe he is depressed. Holden believes he is depressed from viewing the adult world and thinking that it is phony. He believes that the world is phony, superficial, hypocritical, and shallow. He views this world everyday and realizes that one day he will have to step into it, but every time he thinks about the world surrounding him it causes him to become depressed. Holden becomes depressed because he desires to remain a child were innocence is preserved and not drastically taken away. In Holden?s scenario, he feels that his innocence was taken away by witnessing the suicide of his close friend and the death of dear brother. Holden sees the world that he has to become a part of and desires more to not be a part of it. This hatred of stepping into the adult world causes Holden believe he is depressed and

Psychoanalysis is a psychoanalytical theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the conscious and unconscious elements in a human mind by bringing fears to the conscious mind. According to Sigmund Freud, “The unconscious silently directs the thoughts and behavior of the individual” (Freud 95). Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is sixteen years old and does not act his own age for he is stuck in his own private world, filled with pain and suffering. In the novel, Holden can be observed through a psychoanalytical view, which provides the reader a clear understanding of his unconscious mind. Holden is displayed as a troubled and foolish teenager who is flunking

Psychoanalysis would suggest that Holden lacks the maternal affection that he so desperately desires and fails to receive. Upon reviewing Holden’s behavior it appears as if he is a victim to various disorders such as Bipolar and PTSD disorder. HealthResources.info explains the differences between emotional and psychological trauma and also the possible effects in their article, “Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Causes and Effects, Symptoms and Treatment.” One key factor in that causes traumatic stress is product of, “traumatic stress in childhood that influences the brain is caused by poor or inadequate relationship with a primary caretaker.” It is coherent that Holden’s world of pain is a result of the absence of both his mother and father, neither one is ever

This novel goes a long way to showing how difficult it can be to grow up, and how it is critical to have good relationships with others to make it through. One of the primary effects on Holden’s teenage life is the loss of his brother, which is not mentioned until later in the story, where Holden mentions how descriptive his brother Allie’s mitt is, stating “ - he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere - He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat. He's dead now.”

When the reader looks back at Holden’s history they can make assumptions as to why Holden wants things to stay the way they are. The general assumption would be because Holden is very distant to people who are dear to him. He mentions his younger sister, Phoebe frequently but cannot connect with her in any way due to Holden’s enrollment in a relatively distant school. Holden also recalls his two brothers, Allie and D.B., whom he is exiled from in result of Allie’s tragic fate and D.B.’s migration to California. The death of Holden’s favorite person, Allie, results ultimately in the unstable mental condition that controls Holden. Holden’s fascination with children and their mentalities is driven from Holden’s mourning of Allie’s death. While Holden tries to resist changing, he is identifying himself with Allie. Critic, Hermit Vanderbilt, agrees that, “Obviously despairing at the cosmic injustice of such an early death, Holden falls into a schizophrenic disorder interested in keeping him from growing up and keeping the role of Allie alive.” (Vanderbilt 299). In addition to the laments of personal loss, Holden also desires a stagnancy of time because of his fear of losing his moral purity. This is shown when Holden speaks about how his older brother, D.B., has lost his moral standards in the pursuit of fame. Holden feels D.B. has strayed far from his truly respectable writing when D.B. “sold himself out” to the expectations of Hollywood. Holden refers to D.B. as a

When the mind protects itself from outside pain it uses multiple defense mechanisms according to Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytical Theory.In J.D.Salinger’s novel, The Catcher and the Rye, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is shielding himself from all outside experiences that cause pain to his inner psyche. Holden has many repressed memories, and as a result, he shields himself using the mechanics which are in the Psychodynamic Theory also written by Sigmund Freud.When the book begins Holden does not introduce himself like most typical Novels about people's life, instead, he knows what the reader wants. According to him the reader “...will probably want to know