Catcher In The Rye Depression Analysis

The death of Holden’s brother Allie at a young age adds to Holden’s negativity as well as stopping Holden from accepting inevitable change. Allie dies immaturely of leukemia. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (p. 39). Holden is in the hospital because he broke his fist, and he was unable to attend Allie’s funeral. Holden has trouble accepting Allie’s death because he never said goodbye to Allie. His relationship with Allie is similar to his maturity. Just as Holden is unable to accept his brother’s death, Holden is not able to accept that

Holden’s deep depression arose from Allie’s death, and at Holden’s lowest moments, he starts to think about Allie. His depression started when Holden “broke all the goddamn windows with [his] fist” (39). Holden is unable to properly grieve for his brother leaving him in bitter depression with the lingering memories of Allie to bring him comfort. At the park, Holden’s contemplation on his own death leads him back to thoughts about Allie at the cemetery. Holden recalls the feeling of guilt he felt when he had to leave Allie at the cemetery so eventually he stopped going. Allie brings Holden back to reality at the park making him go see Phoebe and eventually Allie’s death reminds Holden of why he can’t leave Phoebe. The pain Holden constantly feels because of Allie’s death drags him deeper into depression, but also gives him some comfort in his toughest times. Holden’s contrast of emotions about Allie portrays his inability to stop thinking about Allie and to accept that Allie is gone.

Holden loved Allie, and was disturbed from the news of his death. Holden was hospitalized after punching his garage windows. When Holden explained Allie’s traits, he said, “But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways” (Salinger 50).” Holden thought the most of Allie. He thought Allie had the most potential out of anybody he had ever met. He also thought Allie was a genuinely good person, and that he did not deserve to die. One of the greatest causes to depression is a death or a loss. When Holden finally came up with an answer to phoebe’s question to think of something that he liked, Holden’s answer was that he liked Allie. Phoebe told Holden that Allie is dead. Holden then said, “I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all" (Salinger 222-223). Holden was constantly depressed about Allie because he was always thinking of him. Allie was the nicest person Holden had ever met. The death of a person with an impact like that would cause anyone devastation. His mindset makes him believe that no one else will be as good to him as Allie was. He thought the best person that will ever be in his life was gone

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

Holden mentions Allie in the book quite often when he is feeling down. Allie was everything that Holden’s not. “He was terrifically intelligent.” His teachers were always writing letters to my mother , telling her what a pleasure it was to have a

Teenagers such as Holden who have thought of suicide do not desire to die but they want to escape from the problems in their life that at that particular moment the impression of dying was the only way out. Holden often lies to himself to ease the emptiness and guilt he is living with that even Holden himself tells us that he “really felt like, committing suicide” (104). Even if we did not have the evidence that Holden was depressed through his actions of lying and having suicidal thoughts we still have the profound statement of all. What other way to prove that Holden Caulfield is depressed then Holden himself announcing that life itself “makes (him) so depressed” (75). Every single page of the novel is gorged with Holden telling us he is depressed. Whether it was Holden remembering someone say please and Holden commenting “that’s depressing” (211) or Holden warning us to never sleep in Grand Central, because “it’ll depress you,” (194) it is obvious that Holden is suffering from a mental illness.

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.

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

I felt so depressed, you can't imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. I keep telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in front of Bobby Fallon's house.”(Salinger) This quote clearly shows Holden isn’t over the death of his brother. He loved Allie and still, when he gets very depressed, talks to him. If Holden had received proper treatment earlier for his depression and was able to talk with someone about the death of his brother, he would most likely not failed out of numerous schools. He wasn’t failing; he was trying to cope.

One can see this because he clearly states in the dialogue that he felt like jumping out the window. Holden’s mental state of mind can literally visualizes his own suicide and how and where it would take place. This quote represents the extent of Holden’s depression and loneliness and how much of it consumes him.

Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually

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).

Holden, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, is dealing with the death of his younger brother throughout the book. Allie died of leukemia at the Caulfields' summer home in Maine on July 18, 1946. He was 11 years old; Holden was 13. Distraught from the loss of his brother, Holden proceeded to break every window in their garage. Although Holden was older than Allie, he looked up to him and admired his outlook on life. Throughout the book, Holden has flashbacks to the times he left Allie out. He cannot move on from these memories and they continue to come back to him in the worst of times. “Allie heard us talking about it, and he wanted to go, and I wouldn't let him. I told him he was a child. So once in a while now, when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, ‘Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house. Hurry up’” (129). As time went on, Holden would try and reassure himself that he was always with Allie and that he never excluded him. Holden uses this as a coping mechanism to make the bad times in life better. Although changing the situations doesn't fully help him move on, it does help fill the void of depression caused by Allie's death.

One of the biggest issues that holden faces throughout the story is the death of his brother allie and for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that he blames himself because there was one day holden didn’t include Allie with him and his friends. Another reason being that when he found out allie had died he unhinged himself and bashed out all the garage windows with his bare hands and broke his hands. For a pacifist, this is an extreme show of aggression and anger. In doing so he ended up spending the day of allies funeral in the hospital because he busted his hands up. Him not being able to go to the funeral was a big deal to holden because