Catcher In The Rye Mental Health Quotes

Can one truly get over the death of a family member? Death is one of the promises of life, but it does not make it easier on the ones it affects. Holden Caulfield experiences not only the death of a loved one, but many other unfortunate events in his young life that greatly affects his emotional state. In the literary work, The Catcher in The Rye, by J.D Salinger, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is not over the death of his younger brother which leads to his current depressive state of chronically lying and his overall loneliness. Salinger illustrates to his reader that mental health, specifically PTSD, can strongly affect one's life overtime if not treated.
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s main issue is his depression

Holden finds solace in lying to almost everyone that he meets just for something to do. For example, when on a train ride to New York City, he encounters a classmates mother and fathomed an entire fake story about her son. After numerous lies, Holden tries to quickly end the discussion with an unfortunate excuse once it started to get personal and says, “It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain” (Salinger ) This quote exemplifies how Holdens chronic lying shows the reader how he is not content with himself. To expand upon, Holdens overarching fear of letting other people know the real him is rooted to his ideal that he is not desirable. Significantly, Holden subconsciously is aware of his sadness since he discusses the tumor in his brain, which the reader can connect to his toxic, bitter thoughts that filter through his mind daily. Therefore, every time Holden starts to uncontrollably lie to others, he is also deceiving himself as a way to try to convince himself that he is not as sad as his mind makes him believe. Above all, one of Holden’s origins of his depressive case is by reason of his compulsive

From the beginning to the end of the novel, Holden is seen continuously distancing himself from his friends by calling them “phonies” as reasoning to not be close with others to hide his depression. Eventually, Holden is left with barely anyone who he sees as a friend, leaving him all alone. For instance, on his way to a hotel since he cannot go home, Holden asks the taxi driver, “Would you care to stop on the way and join me for a cocktail? On me, I'm loaded” (Salinger ). This evidence demonstrates to the reader that Holden cut out everyone in his life and is now left with no one due to his isolating methods that provide influence to his depression. Most importantly, this key fact of his loneliness results in him to reach out to complete strangers. By Holden weakening his friendships by being rude yet wanting to bond with strangers proves to the reader that Holden is afraid of judgment from his close friends who know his real persona. This illustrates how Holdens sadness takes over not only his mental health, but his emotional connections with other people. Overall, Holden's depression is supported by his loneliness that removes himself from those who were once close with