Depression Catcher In The Rye

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. This state of depression is the main reason for his downfall, and can be attributed to three main causes. Holden is exhausted and worn out both physically, mentally and emotionally.

One of the reasons for his Holden’s depression is the fact that he hardly ever sleeps. Lack of sleep is known as one of

Allie was Holden’s Younger brother, who had died from leukemia before the novel even started. Throughout the novel Holden praise Allie, and always says how he was better than him in every way. “You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class. And they weren't just shooting the crap. They really meant it. But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member of the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody." (Salinger 38). In this text, Holden is talking about how great his brother was and how pathetic he was compared to him. Since Holden likes to think of his brother and how great he was he starts to doubt his ability. He starts to believe that he not good enough or as good as his brother, so there is no point in trying. He thinks that his parents are disappointed in him and wish that his brother was still alive instead of him. Because of these chain of thoughts, he does not care or even try as hard as he could in school because he thinks that no matter what he does he will never be as good as his brother. These thought put him into a state of depression which then contributes to his