Teen Suicide

Holden runs away from the society because of his way of thinking that everyone is “phony”. At Pencey Prep, he purposely excludes himself from the community and feels alienated at times because he thinks nobody would have the same mind like him. He criticizes his school by sarcastically belittling, “they don’t do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school” (Salinger 2). He hates Pencey with a passion because he realizes that the advertisement is just an attraction for parents to pour their money in, but in reality, the school is not as great as it sounds on the paper. Holden most likely feels rip off when he finds out that Pencey is not what he expects from what others say. That is one of the main reasons why he alienates himself from people because he

Holden as a character displays the alienation of himself through his behaviour. Holden is not the same as many people and believes that everyone is a ‘phony’. Throughout the novel Holden realises more and more that he is different and sees the world differently to others around him. Holden has created an identity for himself and doesn’t want that to be diminished therefore he alienates himself from the rest of society to decrease the chances of that happening. Holden’s old school, Pency Prep, has the motto “since 1888 we have been shaping young boys into splendid, clear-thinking men.” (pg. 2) This increases Holden’s motivation to leave the school as it will be shaping his identity into something he doesn’t want to be; a man. Holden is all about protecting those younger than him from the dangerous world of adult hood and by alienating himself he feels he has a better chance of

As Holden begins his journey, he meets many possible companions in hope to fulfill the empty space in his heart, but is let down when he realizes it is not possible. While Holden is having a conversation with Mr. Spencer he thinks about how sometimes he is mature, but “people never notice anything” (Salinger 13). He wants to get close to others, but he feels as though everyone rejects him for who he is. This causes him to isolate himself from society and never take any chances. When he at the Ernie’s, he meets Lillian Simmons and the Navy guy, and has a conversation in which turns to be bad in the end. He then talks about how “people are always ruining things for you” (114). The idea of him generalizing society is the main reason

Holden shows how much he needs someone to talk to such as a psychologist, because he is suffering from depression and no one can tell. “Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie don't let me disappear. Please, Allie. And then when I’d thank him”(Salinger 218).The only person he trust is his older brother but, he is dead and makes him seem crazy. With this it shows how Holden hasn’t been social in the longest time, which affects him now because he is going through a phase where he needs some to guide him to the right path. He

Holden believes that Pencey Prep and all the other prep schools express insincerity that are ruled by adults. He concludes that school is nothing, but full of deception, lies, and cruelty. For instance, he believes that the school motto, “‘Since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men,”’ is completely a lie because they are phonies (4). As a result, Holden does not apply himself to school because he doesn’t appreciate what education holds for him in the future. In other words, since Holden considers adulthood to be a world of phoniness, then prosperity will just lead him into that type of world.

Holden is going through teenage hood, which is a very difficult time for many people. His visualization of life is very vivid to his own limits. He fixate of being real, Holden see’s flaws in other constantly and consistently labels them as fake, as bogus. He sees those flaws through the lens of social factors and the materialistic norms. Holden conception of life is that all the people he has encounter with are not their real self, they pretend to be something other them self. Holden sees them has these people portray to the world an image. There are obvious signs that Holden seems to be troubled and unreliable. What is that Holden is running away from is it the people around, is it the materialistic society, what is he trying to get rid off.

Towards the end of the novel Holden gets really dramatic and freaks out about writings on a wall “I saw something that drove me crazy, Somebody written “F**k you” on the wall//it drove me crazy//I wanted to kill whoever written it.” Holden also hated the “Ivy League bastards” he states “ I wouldn't go to on of those Ivy League colleges, if I was dying, for God’s sake.” The little irrelevant things that arouses in Holden’s day to day life really upsets him. His surroundings in everyday life makes him angry and heated.

The death of his brother, Ally, flipped his world upside down. The author creates the image of Ally being the most intelligent person that Holden has ever met, but he “got Leukemia and died when we were up in Maine…”(Salinger 43). Although this imagery paints a picture of sorrow in his life, Holden confronts death throughout the book. Holden blames this as one of his many factors of depression. Holden becomes subject to a routine and soon events in his life appear and it wrecks his world. Instead of having strength in himself he loses all confidence because he can’t find purpose or strength anywhere in the world. If he had a relationship with his parents, he could rely on them, but sadly, he would rather venture alone in his depressing personal hell. Holden’s forgetful demeanor and mindset results in multiple careless actions. On his way home from a fencing tournament he projects, “I left all the goddam foils and stuff on the subway”(Salinger 24). Holden creates a vivid picture of his forgetful life which ultimately leads to a destructive life. He becomes responsible for having no life because he will not explore any life. This is fitting because it all ties into the main cause of his self-conflict and confidence. He projects the word “left,” implying leaving all his stuff everywhere, creating an image of disorganization. Holden has many opportunities in his life to turn his

Throughout the novel, Holden is a tormented adolescent. He feels alienated and isolated at Pencey Prep, he is belittled and dismissed by women he wants to impress, he is beaten up twice, he dreams of escape from the world he lives in and he even considers suicide. Yet, despite these hardships,

To begin with, one of the most characteristic traits of Holden is his judgmental side, which, combined with irony, make him believes that he is the only decent character among a world of phony adults. Holden frequently refers to people or things as "phony," showing his judgmental and superficial approach to life. Since chapter one, he begins saying: “Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown... You've probably seen the ads... They don't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn't know anybody there that was splendid and clear-thinking and all” (page 2). At that time it was customary for wealthy families to send their children to recognized schools, but from this Holden’s quote the reader, can clearly see what Holden thought about this: that the school was two-facedness or full of phonies, this is how he call hypocrites. On Holden’s opinion, families spent money on schools

Holden appeared to be really directionless. He didn't even have ‘the faintest damn idea’ where he could go. Holden didn't want to go home because he was flunked by the school. Besides, he was contemptuous of the part of ‘phony’ society his family belonged to. At the same time, he couldn’t fit in the lower class society because of his background and unfamiliarity with their cultural norms. He was an

To begin with, one of the most characteristic traits of Holden is his judgmental side, which, combined with irony, make him believes that he is the only decent character among a world of phony adults. Holden frequently refers to people or things as "phony," showing his judgmental and superficial approach to life. Since chapter one, he begins saying: “Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown... You've probably seen the ads... They don't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn't know anybody there that was splendid and clear-thinking and all” (Salinger 2). At that time it was customary for wealthy families to send their children to recognized schools, but from this Holden’s quote the reader, can clearly see what Holden thought about this: that the school was two-facedness or full of phonies, this is how he call hypocrites. On Holden’s opinion, families spent money on schools that were just as bad as cheaper ones. In addition, he continually judges all students and teachers at Pencey in general, showing Holden's biggest flaws: his criticism

The loss of Holden’s little brother affected him tremendously, and that is what started the depression. Every single situation has affected Holden after his brother passed away, and that caused him to try to isolate himself from the

The Catcher in the Rye is a Bildungsroman novel written by J.D. Salinger in the point of view of a self-destructive and angsty protagonist named Holden Caulfield. Throughout this story, Holden gives readers a glimpse of his life and explains how he struggles with issues such as sexuality, loneliness, and individuality. Although Holden never admits the severity of his depression, readers are able to recognize that his constant gloomy mood and pessimistic outlook is unusual for his age. Holden’s depression is often triggered when trivial events occur because of his clouded judgement and short fuse. Holden’s depression is evident throughout the novel because of his substandard performance in school, his detachment from the rest if society, and

This passage proves that Holden is dissatisfied with the boys at his school, he believes they are fake and he does not social well with them. Although Holden doesn’t want to interact much, when he does end up interacting with people, he usually gets the short end of the stick. For instance he invites Ackley, a boy he meets at Pency Prep, along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. ‘“I’m not worried about it. Only, I’d hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and found some guy-”’ (Salinger 49). Another instance is when Holden pays Sunny even though they don’t have sex, and ends up getting scammed. At a young age, Holden lost his younger brother, Allie. This had a huge traumatizing effect on him; Holden felt useless because he was unable to help his brother. Holden turns his emotions into anger; stating that he punched out all the windows in the garage. Another time Holden felt unable to help was when his peer, James Castle, was harassed and bullied, leading to James’s suicide. Holden says, “... and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him”’ (Salinger 170). Holden feels that society had