The Possible Character Of Holden In The Catcher In The Rye

Although Holden does not display the violent actions we are use to seeing of a psychopath, he still shares most of the passive traits of a psychopath. Tracey describes a psychopath as showing “Passive symptoms including depression, promiscuous sexual behaviors, lack of remorse or guilt, shallow emotions, lying pathology, etc.” (Tracey). In the book, Holden shows many of these symptoms and one of them in particular. That one would have to be depression.

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 is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to find the true from of himself as he struggles with the social interactions around him. Due to the struggle and confusion that arouses from it,

Holden has all of these traits. In the novel, nearly every time Holden gets depressed, he turns to alcohol. At Ernie’s night club he got served alcohol even though he was a minor. He even got drunk at the Wicker Bar. He used alcohol to escape the sadness in his life, which many killers were known to do as well. Holden also grew up lonely. He lost motivation to do well in school, which got him kicked out of Quincy High, losing his friends. His brother is also dead which may contribute to his feeling of loneliness. Holden always fantasizes about saving all the children from growing up, being their ‘Catcher in the Rye’. If somebody were to get in the way of his fantasy, he might have killed them. Holden is also socially awkward, loving children but hating adults, calling them ‘phonies’. He only has a few friends throughout the novel. He gets very angry with his friends, like when Stradlater goes out with Holden’s ex-girlfriend, Jane, whom he still has feelings for. This made him leave Quincy three days early while he travelled to Manhattan. “I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by.” said Holden (Page 4). Finally, Holden has some sexually stressful moments in the novel, like when he hired a hooker to come upstairs into his room. He wanted to do it, but when she got into the room, he

Holden has several insecurities that are displayed throughout the book that hint at his condition.

All of us have issues, but when it comes to Holden Caulfield, he is on a different level of problems. Throughout Catcher in the Rye, Holden shows signs of many different mental health issues. For example things like depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, etc. These disorders are not uncommon; symptoms include mood swings, fast talking, abuse of rules, and deceitfulness. Holden shows us many signs of a mental disorder, but which one?

I believe that Holden Caulfield is mentally disturbed and shows many signs of it throughout the novel. Problems in Holden’s life that have led him to this rest home are the death of his brother Allie, his multiple failures throughout his academic career, and his distress about moving on in life. Holden deals with

One of the main focuses of the book is Holden’s alienation from other people, which I think stems from his traumatic past. The loss of his brother

“She wouldn’t move any of her kings. What she’d do, when she’d get a king, she wouldn’t move it. She’d just leave it in the back row…” (Salinger 36). Even though this is one of the few hundred thousand sentences in the novel, Catcher in the Rye, it has a huge underlying message.

Although the protagonist in The Catcher in The Rye moves constantly from school to school, Holden’s ability for writing is showcased as he writes an essay for Stradlater about his dead brother's baseball mitt, which has poems written on it in green ink. The green ink has an association with renewal, growth, and hope, but in this situation the green stands for both a lack of experience and need for growth. This significance links to how inexperienced Holden actually is which is contrasted with how he portrays himself; physically fighting with a member of staff in the hotel, at which he is staying. The baseball mitt allows Holden to digress from the physical object to the memory of his brother Allie and the impact his death had on Holden, who broke

Oppositional and Defiant: Holden’s Diagnosis The novel The Catcher in The Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, follows a boy named Holden through his adventure in New York City after he is expelled from boarding school for the third time. During his odyssey in New York City, he discovers many things about his life and the lives of others around him, but also displays odd and abnormal behavioral patterns. Holden shows symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), such as engaging in arguments with adults, intentionally irritating or annoying others, and failing to take personal responsibility while blaming others for his actions and choices. This disorder often occurs with ADHD, anxiety, and depression (Jones).

After psychoanalyzing Holden Caulfield, for over a month, I have come to the conclusion that Holden suffers from Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorder “is a mental health condition that causes one to experience extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and emotional lows.”  Holden, before coming out to California, to be checked into a mental hospital, attended Pencey Prep, and was a troubled teen that was lost, depressed, and confused about his purpose in life. Holden was so depressed and lost in life that he actually was failing all of his core classes, excluding English. With Bipolar Disorder, one of the main symptoms for teenagers, around Holden’s age, according to my research, is low performance in school. This disorder, in most cases, is caused by “past abuse, or significant loss.” While Holden recounted his life to me, he

Adult’s play a big role in why Holden viewed the world as such a bad place because he loathed that they were always trying to impress someone. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory played a big role in the development of Holden as a character due to

Holden’s erratic behavior and his constant switching of mood swings can make the reader assume that Holden shows symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).