Examples Of Grief In Catcher In The Rye

Holden is the main character from the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: he is going through the seven stages of grief. The seven stages Holden experiences are: shock and denial, pain and guilt, anger and bargaining, depression, reflection, loneliness, the upward turn, reconstruction and working through, and acceptance and hope. He mainly focuses on three of the stages: anger, depression and loneliness. These stages influence the events and situations that Holden encounters doing the book. Holden gets in many situations because of his uncontrollable anger during his grieving. His reaction when his brother died proves that Holden had started grieving, “ I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that

Holden is lonely and this is very noticeable throughout his stay at the hotel. He was desperation to talk to someone so had thoughts of calling his little sister (Phoebe). “ I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all.” Holden announces his needs to be intoxicated by begging the waiter for alcohol in the Lavender at the hotel. “I ordered a Scotch and soda, and I told him not to mix it-I said it fast is hell, because if you hem and haw, they think you’re under twenty-one and won't sell you any intoxicating liquor. Can’tcha stick a little rum in it or something?”(chapter 10 pg 69). Usually depression causes desperate decision making. Holden, feeling the need for some attention and comfort he decides to purchase a prostitute. His reaction about the decision he made was, “It was against my principles and all, but i was so depressed i didn't even think.” (chapter 13 pg 91) Holden admitted that he really didn’t want to have sex he just wanted to talk to somebody. He constantly said these lines. “Don't you feel like talking for a while. I just thought perhaps you might care to chat for a while.”(Chapter 13 pg