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Catcher In The Rye Mental Illness Research Paper

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Mental illness affects many people throughout the world. Most of the time, many of the people diagnosed with the illness do not seek treatment because they are unaware that they have been diagnosed with the illness. There are several different types of mental illnesses in which a person can be diagnosed with multiple disorders at the same time. Two of the most common disorders that people struggle with are PTSD and Bipolar disorder. PTSD is also known as post traumatic stress disorder is a serious disorder that people struggle with but this disorder is when something traumatic happens in someone 's life. Before PTSD there is an even more common disorder that you see in people and that illness is called Bipolar disorder which is also known …show more content…

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield shows that he has been struggling with everything he has come across after his brother 's death. Holden clearly suffers with PTSD and he showed it when he asked “ Would you care for a cigarette I asked her she looked around. I don 't believe this is a smoker rudolf she said Rudolf that killed me” (Salinger 55). Holden is one of the adolescents that shows symptoms of PTSD by heavily smoking. He 's different compared to every other adolescent, you can tell he 's struggling because it 's not normal to be smoking at a young age. Holden 's brother was named Allie and “He got Leukemia and died when we were up in Maine on July 18,1946 you 'd like him” (Salinger 49). Holden got PTSD from his brothers lost. Allie 's death was the horrifying event that happened in Holden 's life because Allie and Holden were really close. Holden said in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye “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 goddam windows with my fist” (Salinger 78). On the night of Allie’s death Holden had reacted in a different way then another teenager would. On that night his parents thought he was crazy and Holden had a lack of family support just like many others

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Holden Caulfield experiences flashbacks to the traumatic events that have occurred in his life. Holden is constantly reminded of his younger brother Allie who passed away when he was 11 years old. “So what I did, I wrote about… did, and he had very red hair,” (Salinger 38). The reader can see that Holden is constantly thinking of Allie, and that Allie was one of the people in Holden’s life that made him happy. Holden’s ability to remember the vivid details of Allie and his life prove that these traumatic events, occurring upon those who brought him joy, will always be with him.

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In the novel The Cather In The Rye, J.D Salinger implies that Holden a troubled adolescent can’t seem to find his place in society due to the loss of his brother Allie. Losing Allie made Holden give up on school, caused him to pick up unhealthy habits like smoking, and led him to be upset at the world. Since the death of Allie, Holden began to see the world as hopeless and corrupt. Salinger develops this idea from a first person point of view. With the use of diction, J.D Salinger is able to portray Holden Caulfield as a troubled teen who is facing tribulations after the death of his brother.

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The Red Hat Holden Caulfield is the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J.D. Salinger. The novel is a flashback of Holden’s life when he was seventeen years old, when he was kicked out of Pency Prep. Holden tells his story from a rest home in California where he is seeking the help he needs after his mental deterioration caused by his younger brother Allie’s death. After reading The Catcher in the Rye and having an understanding of Holden’s deterioration, the conjecture that Holden has PTSD can easily be argued. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can be acquired at any age, by anyone.

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In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield tells us his story of his life. Holden is an interesting person, who has many emotions throughout his story. Throughout most of the novel, Holden is very depressed and at times suicidal. Holden tends to reflect a lot on his brother, Allie’s death. Holden is very ungrateful and seems to complain about every incident he goes through.

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After talking about his childhood memories with his brother he states, ¨He is dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. You´d have like him.¨ Then after talking about Allie’s old baseball mitt he said, ¨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¨(43-44). Allie’s death is used to show the unexpected change that Holden had experienced during his life. Allie was only eleven when he died, and Holden was thirteen.

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While it is clear that teenagers typically suffer from mood swings and unsettling behavior, this is not the case for Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye. J.D Salinger portrays his protagonist, Holden, as a cynical and unstable character whose issues may seem dismal; however, his actions and recurring thoughts prove to be much graver than expected and correspond to many of the signs of a psychological disorder described in the article “What’s Normal and What’s Not”. Often, Holden does appear to be dealing and coping with his issues like any other teenager. For example his cynical judgements, listless attitude, and need for independence can very well be perceived as normal rebellious behaviors seen in adolescents.

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All throughout the book Holden smokes, looks for a way to gain access to alcohol, is lonely and depressed and was even kicked out of school. According to the article Holden is a teenager who is struggling to cope with the loss of his brother. If one were to look at both the novel and this article through the archetypal lens, they would surely be able to see the connection between the

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Zimon Li English 9- Bailey 2/1/2023 Catcher in Rye Essay First Draft In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Holden’s mental health collapses from his dependence on Allie and inability to overcome grief. Holden’s inability to deal with Allie’s death causes his mental breakdown. Early on in the book, Holden is deeply traumatized by Allie’s death in their childhood. The loss of someone he deeply valued led him to sleep “in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 50).

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Holden recalls the time he spent the night in his garage: “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. It was very stupid I have to admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie (Salinger, 39).” His denial is represented when he does not admit why he did what he did to the garage. Holden

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The teenage years act as a boundary to either permit or prevent one from reaching adulthood. While some find the transition to be smooth, others become stuck in their past, remaining tied to their innocent childhood. Holden Caulfield, in J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, is an iconic representation of the American teenager. Holden refuses to accept the inevitable processes of life.

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Holden goes through much pain in his life, even as a privileged teenager with many opportunities. He is from New York City and attends many different, prestigious private schools, but never finds his place in them. Since his favorite person in the world dies, who is his younger brother Allie; from then and on, he is not connected to his life at the various boarding schools he attends since he fails most of his classes. He is very depressed and unmotivated to save himself, regardless of the many lectures he receives from various teachers. He simply feels lousy, depressed, and extremely lonely.

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It 's feeling everything at once than feeling paralysingly numb,” writes Maria Henriksson. Mental illness refers to many conditions that individuals could go through. For example depression, addictive behaviors, and eating disorder have effects that could indicate whether or not an individual has a mental illness. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, Holden faces many hardships after his brother 's death. Holden 's mental illness is inferred through his lack of control, isolating himself from others, and relieving the past which caused him to not move

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Holden Caulfield, the main protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, embodies the classic teenager in the process of discovering himself, and how the world works. But, regardless of Holden 's rich, prep school lifestyle, the series of events that have mapped out his life up to this point have utterly affected his emotional well being and perception of the world. Many traumatic events such as the death of holds brother Allie, the death of a class mate, and countless numbers of awkward incidents with adults have all added up to affects Holden 's well-being and detach him from reality. The death of Holden 's younger brother Allie has caused him to confuse his perception of reality and to alienate himself.

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In Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger the main character, Holden Caulfield, deals with death and alienation, both from himself and from others. Holden deals with the death of his little brother Allie when Holden was 13 and Allie was 11, he is still dealing with the death three years later. Holden is sent to private schools by his parents and he flunks out of most of them, this alienates him by Holden having to move to a new school almost every year. These combined with them happening while he is young can lead to Holden having developed PTSD from the death of Allie. Holden displays symptoms of PTSD, such as re-experiencing Allie’s death, and starting easily, as well as doing things in the same way as someone who is diagnosed with PTSD

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In this quote he tells that his brother died. This shows his brother died when he was young. Furthermore he dies as an innocent child who was not exposed to the adult world or the “phoniness.” Allie's death was tragic to Holden but maybe, in some ways Holden wanted the death himself, he wanted to preserve his innocence. Another point that shows Allie's mitt represents innocence is when Holden says Allie used to read poems on his glove while playing baseball which he wrote before the game so he wouldn’t be bored.

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