Holden Caulfield Character Analysis

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

Holden’s little brother, Allie, had died and Holden is still not over his death. “I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, Holden says, “Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby’s house. Hurry up.” (Salinger, 99). There is many moments where Holden thinks of Allie, and even talks to him. Whenever Holden thinks about Allie he gets very upset and doesn’t want to do anything.

Holden also talks of innocence as if he isn’t innocent himself, and he always remembers to show us his pure side from time to time, “Then, all of a sudden, I started to cry. I couldn’t help it…” (Salinger 198) This is a defining moment because of how in touch he is with his emotions, this seems to be him breaking out of his shell to notice that he can’t always be the tough one, and he needs someone to be there for him during some of his hardships. It’s these types of instances that we can see Holden evolving to become a genuine young adult, and is trying his best to stay calm in these struggles of his, “What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie.” (Salinger 110) He expresses his feelings to Allie, his late brother, when he feels out of place. He tries his best to keep his feelings locked up, because he thinks that’s the adult act to take on, yet when he shows us his true side in these occasions, we can really see him thrive.

Holden Caulfield the protagonist of the story. He writes story away from home where he was sent for a therapy. He didn’t talk about his childhood, he mentioned brother D. B. who is a Hollywood writer. He dislike him because D. B. has sold out to Hollywood, chose a career in literature to make wealth in the film industry. He begins to tell about his breakdown, it started when he departed from Pencey Prep, a famous school he attended in Agerstown, Pennsylvania.

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 encounters asignificant fall into his depressive state due to his detachment from society, unconventionalbehaviour and internal psychological turmoil.

This demonstrates the recklessness of youth theme, as Holden does not think farther ahead into the future, but chooses to live in the present and deal with the consequences of his actions later. In addition, his actions show that Allie’s death had a serious impact on his mental health, as his parents were going to have him psychoanalyzed. Allie’s death was the Cataracts from Heaven archetype, because it destroyed Holden’s Golden Age and changed his world completely. This also leads to many other problems for Holden as he struggles with his mental and emotional problems while navigating his way to adulthood. As the book progresses, so does Holden’s mental issues. He begins to think illogically and imagines terrifying things happening to him. Not only does his actions reflect his issues, but a close look at his thoughts also confirm his growing insanity. When Holden was walking, he notes, “Every time I came to the end of a road I get the feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street… Then I started doing something else. Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him, ‘Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie,

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.

"This fall I think you're riding for—it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom.” (187) Mr.Antolini’s discussion with Holden foreshadows the fall that Holden will encounter soon. Holden’s fall is long and feels like it is never-ending, he feels as if he will never hit the bottom. His innocence slowly disappears when he uses alcohol and tobacco to numb his pain. Kids that are still innocent don’t have pain, they don’t realize how bad the situations that they’re in actually are. Therefore Holden had lost his innocence long ago. Unfortunately he is unaware of that and believes that he still has some innocence left in him. Holden continued to try to numb his pain by thinking about people who make him happy. Allie made him happy, but now Allie is dead. Holden actually reaches out to Allie when he thinks he is falling off of the curb. "Every time I came to the end of a block, and stepped off the goddam curb, I had the feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street…'Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear.'" (198) Holden finally comes to realize that everyone has to grow up and grow out of their innocence. He no longer felt like he needed to protect the children or himself from losing their innocence because everyone grows up eventually. He finally decided that you have to let kids fall. Everyone falls and

Holden encounters events in his life which guide him to fear adulthood the way that he does. Two major events that impacted him were the death of his little brother Allie and the death of James Castle who was a former classmate of Holden when he attended Elkton Hills. His little brother Allie, “got leukemia and died...on July 18th, 1946” (Salinger 38). Allie was only 11 years old at the time and Holden was 13 years old. Holden was completely crushed and broken.

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).

Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who has a hard time interacting with people around him, and does not feel like he fits in. Often times he is indecisive and has a condescending mindset generally speaking. The death of his brother, Allie, is childhood trauma that contributes greatly to Holden’s depression, and is seen in glimpses throughout the novel. Holden despises phonies and fears that he might become a phony.

Holden suffers from depression as he comes across unmotivated and lost in society which is caused by many events that have happened in his life. Throughout the novel Holden’s depression grows and soon starts to become suicidal giving readers a sense of unworthiness he may feel. As he mentions in the novel “What I really felt like though was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would have done it too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed “(Salinger, 136).

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.

This novel involves understanding the main character, Holden Caulfield's anxiety at becoming a young adult.