Holden Caulfield Coming Of Age Analysis

Holden Caulfield is going to die. He is the main character of the classic novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. The novel follows him after being kicked out of yet another school. It seems as though Holden has just given up on not only his education, but his future as well. He has only passed English and has no clear aspirations for his future. He begins to suin relationships with those at school, the Fencing team and Stradlater. Then as he travels around New York he smokes very heavily and drinks whenever he can get served. Not only does Holden physically abuse himself, but mentally as well. He has serious issues with both anxiety and depression. The Catcher in the Rye is not the typical young adult coming of age story. The Catcher in the Rye is the deterioration of Holden Caulfield inside and out. Before the adventure even starts Holden shows physical and mental regression. Him completely given up on his academics is the most obvious, but he also has gray hair on the right side of his head. This helps him get into bars without an ID, but it also raises the questions, how did he get it at sixteen years old? Often times gray hair is the linked to something as simple as getting older this is not true in Holden’s case. Holden has

In fact he says that he is depressed 31 times throughout the entirety of The Catcher in the Rye. As he travels through New York, however he begins to express suicidal thoughts as well. These thoughts climax when Holden says “What I really felt like though, was committing suicide...I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed” (Salinger, 1951, pg.104). Holden would have jumped from a window as long as no one could see his body. That is the lowest visible point i his depression. Before he would just get sad and disassociate. He would do things to make people upset, but know Holden has truly just given up and his mental health is in