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Causes Of Loss In Catcher In The Rye

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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). Holden is devastated to the point of isolating himself in the garage so no one can replace Allie. He is so upset that he “broke all the goddamn windows” so by losing someone so close to him he begins to develop a feeling of anger and loneliness. Because of this trauma Holden begins …show more content…

This is again later shown in the book when loneliness engulfs Holden as we see him drinking and then wandering out into the park late at night. We then see him begin to think deeply about Allie,“I know it's only his body and all that’s in the cemetery and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap, but I couldn’t stand it, anyway. I just wish he wasn’t there” (202). He then realizes that he is alone in the middle of the night at the park out of denial of Allie’s death. This implies that when he is battling with his own thoughts about Allie this causes him to isolate himself from other people. By not being able to come to terms with Allie's death Holden's mental health worsens and eventually leads him to breakdown. Despite isolating himself Holden is very reliant on Allie’s memory. When he gets an irrational fear of suddenly disappearing between each block, he talks to the imaginary Allie, “Allie,

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