The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

Within the text, Holden expresses that he is “depressed”, “sad”, and “unhappy” copious times, yet he follows these adjectives with vocabulary that would suggest that he is perfectly content with the world around him. These mood swings and constant shifts between happiness and sadness can be linked to the overall diagnosis of major depressive disorder; specifically, bipolar depression. The DSM states that bipolar disorder consists of, “…mood swings from high to low, and from low to high. Highs are periods of mania, while lows are periods of depression.” A prime example of Holden’s sporadic depressive swings occurs after Sally Hayes, Holden’s romantic interest, denies his request to run away from home and pretend to be a deaf/mute with him. Holden responds by stating, “I was getting depressed as hell again… I probably wouldn’t’ve taken her even if she’d wanted to

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

Depression is paralyzing, but mostly it is terrifying. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is displayed as a deeply sad person. He cannot handle the emotions that are plaguing him and thus projects them on everyone else. Holden is so terrified of his sadness he blames others for it, throughout the novel he constantly says phrases along the lines of, “they depress me”. His actions can be explained as a type of projection. Projection is defined as “ascribing our fear, problem... to someone else and then condemning him… in order to deny we have it ourselves,”(Tyson 14). His emotions have left him in a sanitarium where he is talking to a psychoanalysis, which is where his flashback begins.

In the famous, but often times previously banned novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, seventeen year old Holden Caulfield is trying to find his sense of direction in a world where he describes the majority of people in his life as phony. As the first chapter begins, it is clear Holden is currently living in a mental institution, although the reasoning behind so is never directly stated, the reader can infer it may have to do with Holden's depression troubles. For the most part, Holden's troubles are to blame on his own actions, he fails to realize his irresponsibly is the major cause of the negative aspects in his life. Holden's troubles of being an academic layabout and being reclusive seem to center from his biggest issue

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.

A common symptom of depression is lack of concentration which Holden mentions multiple times throughout the novel (NAMI). “The trouble was, I couldn’t concentrate too hot - sometimes it’s hard to concentrate” (169). Another common symptom could be change in movement, referring to pacing, awkward movements, or in Holden’s case, running for no apparent reason. “I don’t even know what I was running for- I guess I just felt like it” (3). A more general view of Holden’s personality reveals that he is extremely pessimistic about life, which is a general checkbox under “depression”. Even though depression may seem likely for young Holden, there may be a more suitable option: PTSD. Symptoms of this mental disorder may include dissociation, which is a disconnection from reality, and avoidance, which could include physically or mentally avoiding the subject (NAMI). An example of dissociation from Holden comes from, once again, feeling like he’s going to disappear into the street, “Then all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I thought I’d just go down, down,down and nobody’d ever see me again” (204). Holden is definitely separated from reality as he is in his own world of illusions and fantasies. An example from avoidance, other than

Holden seems to struggle with depression. In many places throughout the novel, Holden describes to us his deep sadness. A lot of times his depression is unpredictable and triggered by tense situations. In one situation while he was explaining his feelings about the Elkton Hills headmaster’s phony and rather boring conversations with well-built and

Nineteen million American adults suffer from a major case of depression (Web MD). That is a staggering one in every fifteen people (2 in our classroom alone). Holden Caulfield is clearly one of those people. Depression is a disease that leads to death but is also preventable. Psychology, stressful events, and prescription drugs are causes of depression. Stressful events brought on Holden’s depression. Holden has been trying to withstand losing a brother, living with careless parents, and not having many friends. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that takes us through the frazzled life of Holden Caulfield, who appears to be just a regular teen. But by hearing his thoughts and through heart-wrenching events in the book, the reader learns that

Depression, a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. This mental illness demonstrates to affect teens as much as it affects adults. Studies show that 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. When you deal with depression, you often find it difficult to live an everyday normal life. The “Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D Salinger, narrates on the main character Holden Caulfield, a hostile and negative person, who suffers from severe depression.

1 in 6 people experience depression at some stage in their life. Depression is caused by hormonal changes, Holden is slowly making his way into adulthood and is going through those changes. Depression is something that a lot of people go through at one point or another. Holden commits many actions throughout the book that show he is depressed.

Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives.  However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness.  This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye.  Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.

Although he doesn’t have any friends in this place, he stills wants to have a feeling of leaving and saying goodbye. This is shown when he says “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of goodbye. I mean I’ve left schools and places before and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. When I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (7). Holden doesn’t have any connections to people in this place, and this makes him sad. Constantly feeling abandoned and alone contributes to his feelings of depression. Immediately after leaving his school in the middle of the night without waiting for his brother to pick him up at a later date, Holden asks the cab driver to take him to a bar in New York city. Although he

The cause of this depression is the death of his younger brother Ally. In the novel, he describes that he literally broke all the windows in the garage and that he wasn't able to attend Allie's funeral because he spent his time in the hospital healing his hands. Also, the switching of private schools and the way his parents are always neglecting him is another reason of his depression. An example of how they describe Holden's depression is found early in the novel. In chapter 1, Old Spencer says "Life is a game boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." Then Holden replies with, "Yes sir. I know it is. I know it…Game my a**. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right- I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No Game" (Salinger 8). This quote shows that Holden is a victim of depression and in his thoughts he compares himself as not being with the "hot-shots", which means that he is alienated in society. However, in A Separate Peace, Gene doesn't have this conflict because he belongs to a club. This club that he is in is called the Super Suicide Society in the Summer Session where his major conflict started. When

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

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, consists of many minor characters. There are more than about sixty characters in the novel in which only three of them are major characters (Holden, Allie, and Phoebe) and the rest minor. Many of these characters are just mentioned with no lasting impact on either the novel itself or Holden. Salinger uses minor characters in the Catcher in the Rye to tell the readers about Holden and his views about the world.