Holden has very noble goals, he wants to protect children’s innocence. He says to his little sister “‘Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of
Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I
He may still be a young boy but he is very independent and basically lives on his own for the entirety of the book, but his negative outlook transforms independence into isolation. He is incredibly lonely but also pushes people away when he has a chance to get close to them. Such as his date with Sally Hayes which was going very well until he pushed her away with his harsh words, “You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth” (Ch. 17 pg. 173). Just because Sally wouldn’t run away with him and be independent with him he pushed her away. Holden may think he wants to be free and independent but his negative outlook just feeds his loneliness and
Holden’s desires and actions ultimately show how innocence is almost impossible to protect and is temporary. Holden wants to save everybody from maturing because he is afraid of change. All he sees are the bad things adulthood has to offer and is struggling with the hardships he is facing. He misses the innocence of his childhood and doesn’t want anyone else to lose it. Therefore, he tries several times to protect them from the downfall he is facing. Ultimately, his attempts are useless because innocence turns into an illusion as you mature. You can never change back once you become an
Teen depression is a serious mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities. It affects how a teenager thinks, feels and behaves. It can cause emotional, functional and physical problems. Holden Caulfield lost his younger brother Allie to leukemia when Holden was thirteen years old. Following the death of Allie, Holden broke his hand punching the windows out of the garage of their summer home. Holden’s mindset reveals depression is the cause of his struggles. Depression was actively present in Holden’s behavior. The source of his depression was the death of his brother Allie. Holden was aware the entire time of his impending punishment.
The goal that that Holden has to try so hard to fulfil is symbolic of his need to differentiate himself from the "phonies" around him. Holden’s image of people is pretty bad because he believes no one acts how they truly feel. Growing up scares Holden because it leads to adulthood. In his eyes once he hits adulthood, it'll eventually lead into the same phoniness as the rest of the adults. His constant avoidance and dodging of people and situations causes him to become more and more distant from normal society and social stability.
He tries to protect the children’s innocence because when he saw the “fuck you” on the wall he got really mad because Holden doesn 't want the children to see it since he feels that their innocence will go away too soon(204). Holden feels that after a person loses their innocence, problems similar to his will start to appear. Holden doesn’t want the children to lose their innocence and become like him. He doesn 't want them to grow up and see life as something bad and realize how the world is, not happy and just surrounded by a bunch of phonies.
Post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a known mental health condition triggered after experiencing or seeing a life threatening event. It is very common around the world, and my new patient, Holden Caulfield, has this kind of disorder. A friend of mine recommended him, knowing that I will probably help him. Throughout our session, I could tell that Holden doesn’t really have a normal mind. The death of his brother Allie and witnessing another death, his friend who committed suicide, may have caused his PTSD. The outcome of experiencing all these tragic events, changed his life. His relationship with his parents is vile, and he also does an appalling job in school. Relieving the past, detachment, and agitation, are the main symptoms of
The book, “The Catcher in the Rye” was a book with a very intriguing character named Holden Caulfield. Holden was set to be someone who didn’t like many people nor did he get along well in society. Holden also wasn’t the smartest person nor the was he the most interesting guy but he did go through many things that put him through stress. Many people say that Holden can be described as having angst, anguish, and depression. Holden Caulfield mental problem could be that he have post traumatic stress. Holden shows many signs of having depression and brings back memories of the traumatic things that happened in his life. Holden is a kid who goes through many rough patches in his life that put him in the state of mind that
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield has peculiar behavioral tendencies. The author’s cynical narration presents the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose cynicism and personal oddities prevent him from conforming to a post-World War II society full of phonies to whom he cannot relate. It becomes increasingly evident that Holden, far from being pragmatic, has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood fluctuations. Thus, it is clear that his wide array of personal flaws including his cynical, depressive, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are rooted in underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has extensive psychological problems that are revealed through his depressive
Judging from the patient's behavior and tone, I believe that Holden Caulfield shows more symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), the symptoms that the patient shows is most possibly caused by the traumatic death of his brother,but this should not to be mistaken as Teen Grief. Based off of the transcripts, the patient shows all the symptoms for Antisocial Personality Disorder: he exhibits disdain for authority, impulsiveness, aggression, amusement in lying, irresponsibility, and disregard for the well-being of others. As in the transcripts, it states that he "broke all the windows in the garage... [Holden] broke all the goddam windows with [his] fist, just for the hell of it." (39) venting his aggression that stemmed from the grief
It is exhausting for a person to fight a war inside their head every single day. One in ten young people experience a period of major depression at some point in their adolescence. Holden Caulfield is not the exception; he is emotionally unstable and suffers from a major disease not discussed in the novel. Though many think Holden is not suffering from a mental illness, his actions relate closely to the symptoms of an illness or disorder of some kind. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield suffers from a Borderline Personality Disorder displayed through Holden’s excessive avoidance of his problems, substance abuse, and bouts of intense anger.
In Catcher and the Rye J.D. Salinger tells the reader about a boy named Holden Caulfield who is isolated from society. He is isolated in many ways because he has post-traumatic stress disorder. Holden Caulfield’s younger brother Allie died of leukemia. This tragic event happened when they were both young, but Holden is still affected to this day. Holden has ptsd from the death of his brother which causes him to be isolated from society.
Holden acts as a hypocrite at times because he tries to act like an adult by swearing, smoking, and drinking, but he truly doesn't act like a grown up because he can’t accept the reality of his brother being dead. His refusal of adult life is rooted to the death of his
To begin with, Holden never speaks about having a mental disorder, but it is portrayed that he does. The first disorder you can notice is how he is a pathological liar. A pathological liar is someone who “long history (maybe lifelong history) of frequent and repeated lying for which no apparent