Holden Caulfield Death Essay

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” This quote was said by Holden Caulfield. The main character experiences the death of his brother. Holden’s brothers name is Allie Caulfield. Allie Caulfield was the smartest of the Caulfield’s he died three years before the start of the book and Holden still is taking it hard. The puritans would not approve of the Novel The Catcher in the Rye due to characters did not live sin-free lives, women were not submissive, and characters would swear.

To start off with, Holden has symptoms of Post traumatic stress disorder, such as flashbacks and mistrust. He often has flashbacks about his disesaed brother Allie. One example from the novel says,”[Allie] got lukemia and died when we were up in maine, july 18th, 1946”. That is a very specific thing for somebody to remember, considering he doesnt do well in school, proving thatthis event still remains clear in his head. As does his brother. He describes him as” He

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 Catcher in the Rye there is a bunch of significant themes. One theme that stands out the most to is Holden dealing with death. Holden dealing with death plays a big part in the story. Holden not being capable to deal with his brothers death is his motive for not wanting to make friends and it is the reason for him acting the way he does. For example, when Holden found out that his brother was dead, he broke all of the windows in the garage with his bare hands. Another example is Holden constantly ask different people about ducks in Central park. Which later is symbolic to Holden not wanting to make friends. Further more, we learn later in the story that Holden didn’t attend Allie’s funeral.

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

Holden shuts out his emotions to keep himself from feeling too deeply, revealing his insecurities towards showing who he is inside. When talking about his late brother, Allie, he walls up to stop any sadness from coming up to the surface. He talks about it in a way that plays it off like he doesn’t mind, and tries to seem nonchalant about what happened. When he says “He’s dead now,” Holden hints at his true feelings but chooses to stay blunt and conversational to avoid getting too far over his head. In order to not let it take him, he hides his emotions and puts on a facade. However, when he gives further detail about what happened, Holden still remembers it well, saying he “got leukemia and died” during a family trip to Maine on “July 18,

When Holden’s brother Allie died, he went through a very rough time. In the book, Holden states “He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we

When Holden was at the young age of 13, he was burdened with the death of his little brother. He idolized Allie, and although older, he looked up to him. When Allie died, Holden was angry, sad, and

Similarly, loss suffered by Holden acts as a contributing factor to his inner turmoil and mental illness. Holden’s younger brother Allie passed away in 1946, and has haunted Holden ever since. He states: ‘He’s dead now. He got Leukaemia and died.’ The bluntness with which Holden reveals his death is representative of the effective use of simple language on the part of Salinger. Complex vocabulary is not used because it is not needed- the incident stands out more against a plainer backdrop. The fact that Allie died of Leukaemia also makes the event more devastating. He died extremely prematurely and Holden’s downfall suggests that his death impacted him in a huge way. Holden was intensely fond of his brother and refers to him throughout the entirety of the novel. He comments: ‘You would have liked him’ when personally addressing the reader. We therefore feel involved in his story and emotion is evoked when we hear of his passing. It also acts as an explanation for Holden’s difficulties. He struggles immensely throughout adolescence as he fails to accept the transition from childhood to adulthood, perhaps because he described Allie as ‘mature’ for his age. This could perhaps be why Holden has such negative associations with growing older: all he sees ahead is death. Therefore, loss endured by both Holden and Esther leads to their eventual depression and isolation from society.

Holden has faced many deaths (trauma) in his life, but we are mainly going to focus on his younger brother Allie. Holden has 2 brothers and one sister, his older brother is D.B. then holden, younger brother is Allie and the youngest of all is his sister phoebe. Allie dies at the age 11 by leukemia, and Holden at a young age 13 took the death very hard.

Despite Holden’s inherent flaws (impulsiveness, lack of academic motivation, and excessive drinking and smoking), his story serves as an excellent learning opportunity. Holden represents the struggles that so many adolescents are facing: trauma, absentee parents, inability to relate, and most of all, the feeling of being invisible. The underlying grief over the death of his brother, Allie, serves as “the thread that links all of Holden's good and bad choices together”, the motivating factor behind all of Holden’s actions (Kahane). Therefore, Holden’s story should not be banned as a negative influence, but celebrated as a learning opportunity. Holden exhibits typical signs of depression after losing a loved one, eventually culminating in his admittance to a psychiatric hospital. However, Phoebe serves as an exemplification of how to help those who are struggling. Phoebe understands “that to rescue someone, you don't hand them a pamphlet, you take their hand” (Kahane). Throughout the novel, Holden exhibits warning signs of depression in his day to day interactions with his classmates and personal reflections. While walking through the hallway one weekend night, Holden complains, “It was very, very quiet and depressing in the corridor... I just didn't want to hang around any more. It made me too sad and lonesome” (Salinger 57). Instead of going out like all

Allie was the golden child and Holden was the screw-up, for lack of better wording, he never tried but looked up to Allie in all his glory instead. Holden was a bright star as well but with his older brother around he could feel somehow proud to be related to such a boy. In Holden’s mentality once he lost Allie he couldn’t find himself confident anymore, he seems more insecure and petty in this novel. Holden could tell you copious amounts of stories on his brother, Allie, he even ‘spoke’ to him on his night at the hotel, when he remained depressed on his endeavor with the prostitute. “Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby’s house. Hurry up.” Holden mentions that he speaks aloud to Allie whenever he is

Through feigning adulthood, Holden yearns to prolong his own innocence. Preserving mental bonds to childhood is a predominant compulsion to him. In the moment that Holden is walking down Fifth Avenue and pondering upon disappearing from New York, he states, “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. Please, Allie. '” (198). Holden hits the nadir of his life in wanting to run away from everything and therefore undergoes a psychotic breakdown as perceived in his speculation. It seems as though Holden 's younger brother Allie is his only solace, as he is one of the few people that he refers to with sincere affection throughout the novel. Holden 's constant reference to Allie

Holden begins to spiral downward when his brother is diagnosed with leukemia, but hits rock bottom and experiences the beginning of a mental breakdown when Allie succumbs to the disease and dies. Holden does nothing to help himself, he is his own worst enemy. His former teacher, Mr. Antolini recognizes this and tries to warn Holden, "This fall I think you 're riding for- it 's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind” (187). Holden, however, ignores this warning and continues down the path of destruction. He feels neglected by his family because all of their attention is focused on Allie, causing Holden to distrust them. Holden has been trying to hold it in check for Allie’s sake, but the night of Allie’s death he cannot hold it in anymore. He loses a grip on his self-control and breaks down. He pushes everyone he cares for away and refuses to let anyone in. Holden is only two years older than Allie but by

A major tragic event that happens to Holden as an adolescent is the death of his younger brother, Allie. Holden is unable to cope with the death of this brother and his unconscious demonstrates that. The tone that Holden uses when talking about his brother gives