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The catcher in the rye holden caulfield ptsd
Holden caufield suffers from PTSD
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Ever since Allie died he has been a mess. He talks about how after Allie died, “[His parents] were going to have [him] psychoanalyzed and all, because [he] broke all the windows in the garage” (Salinger 39). He develops a negative outlook on life. This is the cause of Holden’s continuous downward spiral. He becomes more and more disturbed and eventually ends up in a mental institution.
Through the effects shown in The Catcher In The Rye, Salinger depicts the struggles of grief and loss in various stages of life. Holden takes Allie's death very harshly. The night that Allie died, he slept in the garage and ended up punching out all the windows in the garage and kept going until his hand was broken and he “had to go to the hospital and all”(Salinger 201). Allie’s death affects Holden as a person, not
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.
Even though Allie died, Holden thinks Allie is always watching over him and making him feel better. For example, after Holden spent the night sleeping on a bench at Grand Central Station, he starts
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.
Holden was very upset the night Allie died. “They were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all… 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.” (40) Holden also saw James Castle’s body when he committed suicide – wearing Holden’s sweater. This incident brings back memories of Allies death. The way he talks about Allie is proof that Allie is still alive to him.
The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, is the story of an angst-ridden sixteen year old Holden Caulfield as he learns to deal with growing up. The story follows Holden through his three day experience through New York as he learns about the truth about innocence, sex, and mortality, making The Catcher in the Rye one of America’s most notable coming-of-age stories. One of the largest influences on Holden’s life was his younger brother Allie who died from leukemia at age eleven when Holden was thirteen. The death of Holden’s brother had a profound effect on Holden emotional state, which eventually caused his complete mental breakdown by the end of the novel.
Allie died at the age of eleven because of leukemia. Holden was very connected to Allie; he was more like an older brother to him than Holden was to Allie because Allie was very smart, nice, special, and knew what to do unlike Holden. Holden was very hurt to the point he broke all the windows in the garage and was hospitalized. In the present time, Holden becomes isolated from the society around him. He doesn’t allow himself to get too close to anyone.
Most people who have been in the same situation as Holden would think about their brother often even if they have come to terms with it. However, most people would not run away for a few days and consider going to another state and living there forever just because they still have to come to terms with the death of their brother. If Holden was coming to terms with grief and loss he would have done more stuff that had to do with Allie. The entire time Holden was in New York, he never even went to Allie’s grave. It is unlikely that Holden is not visiting Allie’s grave because he doesn’t want to deal with it because he has gone to Allie’s grave before and was fine.
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.
As Monica Geller once said in Friends, “Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You’re gonna love it!” Growing up and having to face reality is hard. In J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, he illuminates the themes of alienation and the painfulness of growing up through the eyes of a conflicted teen.
Allie’s young death unquestionably plays a role in Holden’s resistance to adulthood, his preserved innocence may be the very reason why Holden wants to be the Catcher in the Rye. Physically Holden is approaching adulthood and with this wants to play the part, but this proves difficult due to Holden’s psychological age. When Holden brings a prostitute to his room he refuses to have sex with her. Instead Holden insists on having a conversation with her in order to fill his void of loneliness. Indubitably this is a prime example of Holden’s emotional age, not to mention his impulsivity.
In the novel, A Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, narrates his experience during a two-day period of the previous December that led to his eventual hospitalization. Holden is 16 years old and is suffering from depression, mood swings and general poor health due to his chronic smoking habit. He has a history of school expulsions due to his failing grades and has recently learned that he will no longer be attending his prestigious boarding school, Pencey Prep for the same reason. Holden is from New York, and has a younger sister Phoebe that he is fond of. Within the first chapter of the novel, the reader learns that Holden also has a younger brother, named Allie, who died of Leukemia on July, 19, 1946.
n J.D Salinger's novel “The Catcher in the Rye” tells the story of Holden 3 day journey. Because of Allies death Holden deals with emotional problems that he can't Cope with. The first way Holden deals with his emotional problems is going through depression Another way he deals with emotional problems is through isolation. Finally, death turns holding into a violent person. Therefore, it seems that Allie's death has caused him to be depressed, isolated, and very violent.
This is representative of how Holden is currently still carrying his grief of Allie’s death, manifesting itself in his lack of motivation in school while he is maturing to become an adult. This is important considering Holden is currently at an area where he is neither an adult nor child, but
