Holden Caulfield Childhood

The author J.D. Salinger was able to represent the theme: the loss of childhood innocence, by describing the internal as well as the external characteristics of the main protagonist Holden Caulfield. Holden is portrayed as innocent due to his “lousy vocabulary” and also his childish mannerisms. His constant use of the term “boy” is ironic when Holden himself is a boy at heart. While internally Holden Caulfield may appear to be naive; this representation contrasts with his external appearance. Holden is struggling internally to be himself and is clinging on to his innocence, at a time where his body is continuing to become more mature and transitioning out of adolescence. The reader is able to note his struggle because of Holden Caulfield’s

Holden’s contempt for adults goes deeper than teen angst or a need to rebel. Rebellion is done out of a need for attention, however in Holden’s case he acts upon a fear and unresolved childhood trauma. Throughout the novel, we see our character Holden bouncing around denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Holden lost his brother to leukemia; Holden was 13, while Allie was 11. Holden was left devastated. At the beginning of this book we see Holden in isolation watching the football game on his own atop a hill after a long disappointing day in New York. Holden tells us about when he found out about Allie’s death, and in a fit of rage punched the windows out of the garage of their summer home, breaking his hand with the desire to punch the car windows out. Holden was unable to reconcile the loss of Allie. He missed the funeral because of his accident and continues to not visit the grave because of his denial of the situation. Holden used bargaining when he asked Allie to catch him in his fall through depression. Holden perceived the children of the rye as falling, while he was the only one actually falling with no one to catch him. Throughout the entire novel except in short bits, Holden claims to be depressed and hates being around those with less than himself. Finally, at the end of the book, Holden reaches an acceptance that he can’t control everything and life continues. He has to let go and allow others to reach for that carousel's golden ring even if they do fall along the

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old boy, transitions from childhood to adulthood. The death of Holden’s little brother signifies the beginning his loss of innocence and growth of maturity. As he enters adulthood, Holden views society differently from his peers by characterizing most of his peers and adults he meets as “phonies.” Thus, Holden takes the impossible challenge of preserving the innocence in children because he wants to prevent children from experiencing the corruption in society. The Catcher In The Rye embodies Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of children and reveals the inevitability of and the necessity of encountering the harsh realities of life.

The death of Holden’s brother also take a significant toll on him and his innocence. The death of his brother sparks off the road to the loss of Holden’s innocence, and Holden starts realizing the phoniness in people. Holden labels everyone who is “corrupted” and not pure to themselves as phonies. Holden depicts almost everyone as fake and not true to themselves, except Allie and Phoebe. When describing Allie Holden says “it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid, though”. In Holden’s eyes Allie represents innocence and this confuses Holden because how can something so innocent die so young? Another death that changed Holden is James Castle a boy that committed

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

When Holden was younger, his brother died of Leukemia. Even though Holden was older than his brother, he idolized him because he was a sensitive, intelligent, and lovely kid. However there is a deeper meaning to the adulation. Holden venerated Allie because he was young and innocent, furthermore, he was not perverted by the world of sex and adults. The allegory of Allie is critical to the novel because it gradually becomes clear that Allie’s demise was one of the most distressing experiences of Holden’s life and plays a key role in his current

This can be recognized as Holden confesses, "I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage" (Salinger, 44). Punching windows is a sign of severe unhappiness and anger that consumes Holden as he resorts to violence. Allie's death in childhood establishes life's "rules" as arbitrary and cruel, and provides an explanation for Holden's fixation on childhood. According to psychologist John Bowlby, children can respond to death by engaging in unprovoked violence towards peers or adults or inexplicable destruction of property (Bowlby). As another method of coping with this death, Holden appears to talk to himself. He confesses,“I felt so depressed, you can't imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed” (Salinger, 53). Again, Holden copes with Allie’s death by talking to Allie himself. Conceivably, Holden is unable to communicate with living individuals. Thus, Holden talks to someone who is dead and cannot genuinely help him overcome his failures. This grief keeps Holden from growing as an individual in the important years of his

This shows how Holden had a breakdown after Allie’s death and never got proper help after this. This bad experience may recur for him when he is around things that remind him of Allie (like other children) and may help contribute to his

“The Catcher In The Rye” by J.D. Salinger is an intense psychological novel about an unfathomable teenage boy who wanders through life with traumatic memories of a broken childhood that haunt him. Alongside the struggles which break down the walls of his innocence, further leading to a corrupted young man who struggles with inner conflicts, coupled with surviving the adult world. The novel touches upon many social issues currently trending in the twenty-first-century society. Social issues faced by the present generation that is highlighted to the reader of “The Catcher In The Rye” as seen through the eyes of a marginalized teenager include Social Alienation from society, neglection, further leading to depression, and loss of protected innocence.

In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the character of Holden Caulfield does not convincingly embody a compassionate and caring character. Holden, after having a difficult year at school, finds comfort in his memories of his brother Allie. Another instance of Holden finding comfort, is when he spends time with Phoebe. In the same way, Phoebe is supportive when spending time with Holden. However, this takes a turn for the worse, as Holden reveals to Phoebe that he is leaving. Holden finds comfort and love through his memories of Allie, his experiences with Phoebe and the support from he receives from her.

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 Caulfield goes through life mourning the death of his younger brother, Allie, who passes away from Cancer. In this state of depression, Holden learns more about how his life was very affected from the loss of someone so important to him, even though he doesn't admit it.

Allie, Holden’s little brother, had died of leukemia at the age of eleven. This event impacted Holden greatly. During that time, he mentioned that he had slept in the garage and broke all the windows in there with his bare hands. This shows how close he was to his brother and how greatly he was affected by this incident. He is also seen to consider himself as always depressed. “

Edwards’ point that Salinger has created a moral character who “wants to...guide and protect those younger than he” is valid because Holden treats all children with benevolence and genuinely cares for their well being (Edwards). The tragic death of Holden’s younger brother Allie, triggered a strange, moral obligation to protect other children from the perceived inevitably horrific fate of adulthood. Holden’s sister, Phoebe, is upset that her brother has been kicked out of yet another school, asks him what he likes and wants to do with his life. Holden takes a long time to ponder before coming up with an answer that he likes Allie and wants to be the catcher in the rye. He elaborates by explaining how there would be a field of rye, where he would stand “on the edge of some crazy cliff” and catch children “if they start to go over the cliff” (Salinger 173).

But the book increasingly presents through many examples his attitude towards life, and his problems socializing with the world around him. Holden is afraid of change; he wants everything to remain the same because of Allie’s death. Throughout the book, Holden mentions Allie almost every single time, the reason why is because Allie to Holden was the most intelligent, enjoyable, lovely, the most charming kid with the best sense of humor you’ll ever meet. Holden’s love towards Allie was so enormous that after his brother past away, he glorified him as a saint. Moreover, Holden is glad that his brother past away in a young age because he knows that he will never see the ugly truth of the world, that means having never been corrupted by the world of sexual relations and older people.