Holden Caulfield's Depression In The Catcher In The Rye

One of the hardships Holden must cope with is his inability to come to terms with death, in particular that of his younger brother, Allie. Holden seems to have experienced a

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

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

Secondly, most teenagers have struggles grieving for the loss of of their loved ones. Holden struggles multiples of times to grief for the death of his younger brother, Allie, who died at the age of 11 due to leukemia. Holden writes about Allie for Stradlater’s english homework and tells the reader, “He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class...But it wasn’t just that he as the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anyone...I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because i broke all the windows in the garage. I don 't blame them. I really don 't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the

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.

J.D. Salinger 's "The Catcher in the Rye" portrays a troubled teen in New York City. Over the few days the novel depicts, the boy displays his critical and unhealthy mindset. Eventually he has a mental breakdown. Through psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield, one may suggest that Allie 's death, social development, and an identity crisis are large contributing factors in Holden 's mental breakdown.

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

When he met up with Sally, Holden was so excited. He got to the meeting place early and eagerly awaited her arrival. Instead of going to see a movie, as previously planned, they went ice skating. Sally and Holden have a wonderful time ice skating. After skating, and during dinner, Holden has this peculiar idea about moving away with Sally to Massachusetts or Vermont. She firmly rejects the idea. “Why not, why the hell not?” says Holden (132). Holden has a strong negative reaction to Sally, asking her why she won’t go with him. Holden acted in an irrational manner. After they argue Sally leaves him abruptly. Holden’s unrealistic request and overreaction to Sally’s response was induced by his depression.

Instead of dealing with his problems Holden drank. This negatively affects him. Instead of getting help with his emotions he would drink them away so he would feel less. Drinking is seen persistently throughout the novel. Some may think that Holden has a severe drinking problem, which he does. A majority of his money is spent on alcohol at the bars he goes to. Holden is a minor and it is illegal for him to drink (57). Holden feels as if he is older when he drinks and likes the feeling because he does not want to be seen as one of the “phony” guys that he often speaks about throughout the novel. One night he gets so drunk he just does not know what is going on. It feels good for him. It is often mentioned that Holden drank when he had nothing else to do. He would stay out late because he wasn’t tired and had nothing else to do, and he was lonely. Holden feels a need to be drunk whenever he is around the “jerky preps” (85). He says “I can’t sit in a corny place like this cold sober” (70). He feels as if they are phony and he is unlike them. He often feels like getting out of the bars, but doesn’t because he doesn’t want to leave to become lonely. “I felt like getting out of the place. It was too depressing” (80).

Holden Caulfield encounters himself facing issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and parental neglecting that prevents him from completely understanding why it is that he is severely depressed. One of the hardships Holden must cope with is his inability to come to terms with death, of his younger brother, Allie. We often discover

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.

Where do the ducks go during the Winter when the water is frozen? In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the character, Holden Caulfield, has an underlying mental condition. He failed out of four schools; he saw his friend commit suicide; and his younger brother died of cancer. These life-changing experiences paved the way for Holden’s insecure and unstable life. By his narration, Holden hints at his disorder throughout the book without fully explaining his condition. Holden’s many insecurities, his teetering on the edge of childhood and adulthood, and his irrational ideas help the reader realize that Holden has a mental problem.

This can be recognized as Holden confesses, "I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage" (Salinger, 44). Punching windows is a sign of severe unhappiness and anger that consumes Holden as he resorts to violence. Allie's death in childhood establishes life's "rules" as arbitrary and cruel, and provides an explanation for Holden's fixation on childhood. According to psychologist John Bowlby, children can respond to death by engaging in unprovoked violence towards peers or adults or inexplicable destruction of property (Bowlby). As another method of coping with this death, Holden appears to talk to himself. He confesses,“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” (Salinger, 53). Again, Holden copes with Allie’s death by talking to Allie himself. Conceivably, Holden is unable to communicate with living individuals. Thus, Holden talks to someone who is dead and cannot genuinely help him overcome his failures. This grief keeps Holden from growing as an individual in the important years of his

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).

The patient is Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Caulfield's appearance is tall for his age and surprisingly has quite a few gray hairs at the age of sixteen. Holden comes from an upper-middle class family. His family has enough money to support Holden with many luxuries including skates and expensive suitcases. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield aren?t there to talk, care, and be there for Holden, which seems to drive Holden away from his family. However, he has an intimate bond with his younger siblings, who embody innocence and youth. The death of his brother Allie has left a large scar on Holden. He has a cherished and intimate relationship with his young