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Catcher In The Rye Mental Illness Analysis

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Pre and Post Mental Illness: Compare and Contrast The Catcher In The Rye and Silver Linings Playbook
About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people will have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at some point in their lives and about 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year (National Center for PTSD). From this piece of information, I can tell that mental illness is common and people need to seriously pay attention on it. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caulfield faces some mental problem such as bipolar disorder and PTSD. In the movie Silver Linings Playbook (2012) by David O. Russell, the main character Pat also faces those mental illness. The different is that Holden Caulfield is a teenage in the stage before …show more content…

The representations of mental issues in Catcher are shown through Holden’s personal experience and attitude. First, He suffers the traumas from the pass. “I couldn’t stand it. I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his souls in the Heaven, but I couldn’t stand it any way. I just wish he wasn’t there” (Salinger 172). From this quote, it obviously that Holden misses his brother Allie. He always recalls this memory and suffers the stress of his brother’s death. The kid James Castle’s suicide reaction also makes Holden suffer which can show by the following quote, “He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him” (188). This blood scene stimulate Holden which has negative effect on Holden’s psyche. He feels sorry for Castle’s death, and this tragedy event acts as trauma for Holden. Besides, those memory from the pass can affect his behavior. “I thought probably I’d get pneumonia and die. I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral and all” (171). The memory from the pass makes him starts to worry about himself. Second, he has negative attitude toward the world around him. He calls people he meets phony. For example, in the Wicker Bar he calls all people in the bar phonies and says the place is sophisticated. “It’s one of those places that are supposed to be very sophisticated and all, and the phonies …show more content…

There are traumatic events that have terrible influence in their psyche. For Holden, he is suffering his brother, Allie’s death. For Pat, he is suffering betray of his wife. For Tiffany, she is suffering her husband’s death. Suffers from the pass has extremely influence for those main character’s mind. Contrasting the main character in the book and film, they ends up to have absolutely opposite results. Holden ends up facing the mental treatment, while Pat overcomes his mental illness. There must have reasons that cause this result. They both have mental problem. However, there is reason lead to different results for those same mental ill. The attitude characters hold are different. Holden has negative attitude toward people and sociality. However, Pat holds positive attitude and hope for better future. He still missing his wife, and this is considered as a power to lead him overcome the metal ill. Pat also finds his second paragraph of love which is the main factor enable Pat to overcome his mental ill. That’s essential for modern people who now suffers the pressure from the society and faces a mental problem. People should always stay positive. Just like the sentence in Silver, “you have to do everything can and if you stay positive you have a shot at a silver

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Therefore, his rebellion both academically and socially in the schools he attends display his resistance to grow up. These behaviors he shows, are psychological effects he develops due to Allie’s death, hence creating a negative impact on his life. In addition to Allie’s death causing Holden to act out, it also seems to cause neglection in Holden’s life. Just like Holden, it seems his mother has not gotten over

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JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye is about a boy named Holden Caulfield and his struggle with life. As a teenager, he has one goal and that is to simply find his place in the world. Unlike an ordinary teenager he has a severe case of depression, and displays many signs to exhibit this mental illness. As we escalate through the novel, we notice that his depression seems to be getting worse and that he is feeling despondent more often.

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As many readers read “Catcher In The Rye” many will agree that Holden exemplifies depression, feelings of worthless and lack of sleep. Although shows the symptoms of bipolar disorder: feeling confident, lack of concentration, switching on topics and a desire for sex. Holden Caulfield is an adolescent who shows various symptoms of sickness. Through the book he shows symptoms of bipolar disorder and depression: sleep disorder, feeling worthless, and no care which are all aspects of both. But one symptom that only bipolar disorder has, is the feeling of confidence, which isn't an aspect of depression.

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In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, the protagonist Holden Caulfield demonstrates his unusual behaviour. The narrator introduces the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose suspicions and personal issues prevent him from being “normal” in a society full of phonies that he does not seem to get along with. It becomes clear that Holden has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood swings with the people he likes, and dislikes. Therefore, it becomes obvious that some of his personal flaws include his distrust, depression, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are based on his underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has a variety psychological problems, such as his skepticism, depressive behaviour, and

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When we were younger, all we ever wanted was to be a ‘big kid’. We wanted to be able to do things by ourselves and have independence and freedom from our parents. In J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, protagonist Holden Caulfield finally had this ‘freedom’. But was it what he wanted?

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Holden Caulfield struggles with mental illnesses, which puts him in a mental institution talking to a psychoanalyst in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. Holden being in a mental institution is necessary for him to recover. People with serious mental disorders are admitted into mental institutions for various amounts of time. Mental institutions are necessary and helpful to people, such as Holden Caulfield, with many types of disorders and are effective for a majority of people and result in patients being grateful for their time spent at mental institutions. Depression, anxiety disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders are all examples of reasons people are admitted into mental institutions.

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“I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs.” (Salinger, 20) By calling others phony, he sorts them into one category, and himself into another, that other being not phonies. This cuts him off from the vast majority of society, who he views as phony. Furthermore, Holden greatly dislikes talking with any person from the phony category, knocking his level of social interaction down even further.

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Throughout the book, Holden is struggling to get by. The death of his brother Allie has left him in a tough spot. Holden doesn’t exactly know how to deal with this. The different stages of grief are represented through Holden. Holden shows denial and anger when he flashbacks to one of his memories after his brother’s death.

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The first cause of Holden 's mental illness that readers notice is that he lacks control over his actions. As Holden was 13 years old, his brother Allie died of leukemia. Holdens behavior in response to his brothers death was very violent. “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 (Holden Caulfield 39).” Holden admits that he didn’t know he was doing it, but says it was a stupid thing to do.

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Throughout the novel, the topic of death is reoccurring in Holden 's mind. Whether he 's in school, doing homework, or aimlessly walking around New York City, Allie 's presence or lack thereof is always looming. It escalates to the point that Holden is always thinking about his own death, but more more specifically he 's fear of being forgotten: "Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddamn 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. Boy did it scare me"(256).

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From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.

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The Catcher in the Rye Final Essay (Draft) In J.D. Salinger's fiction book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden, a teen living in the 1940’s, experiences his teen years in strange and unusual ways. Holden teaches us that everyone experiences frustrations throughout life but can always manage them. Some readers of the novel believe that the book has lost its significance due to the fact that it was written so long ago.

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Holden’s unusual fantasy metaphorically displays this desire to save children’s innocence on his quest, and literally displays his obsession with death and preventing it, as being the catcher in the rye would accomplish both goals. F. Literary Critics also note that Holden’s catcher in the rye job is a dream of his that he pretends to be a reality to hide the fact that he secretly knows that he is unable to save the innocence of all children. G. Authors James E. Miller jr, and Arthur Heiserman explicitly state that, “Holden delights in circles – a comforting bounded figure which yet connotes hopelessness” (Miller, Heiserman 496). H. The “comforting bounded figure” is Holden’s catcher fantasy that he literally uses to comfort himself against the reality he refuses to believe because it “connotes hopelessness” and he is still too innocent and naïve to accept that. I. Holden possesses this dream as a weak attempt to save the innocence of children and to avoid a hopeless reality of defeat he has yet to accept.

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Sickness comes in many forms, but perhaps the most misunderstood form happens mentally. All of the events that happen to the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, are caused in some way or another by his mental illness. Holden Caulfield is a boy who drops out of school and travels to New York City. Holden makes irresponsible decisions like when he travels to New York City by himself without permission which affects him mentally. Holden’s mental illnesses affects his decision making,specifically his decision to stay in school and his inability to connect with people.

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Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has abnormal tendencies. Although he could just be a typical teenager, dealing with difficult situations, after analyzing his behavior it is believed that he is suffering from a mental ailment of some sort. Events from Holden’s past are still currently haunting him and it is evident that he is struggling. He needs the guidance of those around him in order to help himself through these tough time.

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