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Grief And Acceptance In 'Catcher In The Rye'

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A. Martinez Mr. Shambaugh English 10 Honors 01 March 2023 Grief and Acceptance Many experiences the loss of loved ones closest to them, which can affect many, especially adolescents. Throughout the Catcher in the Rye, Holden gives readers small glimpses of his younger brother, Allie, through objects, presented throughout the story. As a lover of poetry and a bright student with a gleaming future ahead of him, Allie passed away due to leukemia at age 11. The effects of this on Holden are still present throughout the story as he reminiscences the loss of his younger brother. From breaking windows to the present, Holden's grief from losing his brother and the inability to accept reality is evident to readers and how it affects his present day. …show more content…

I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it and you didn’t know Allie.” Holden acts out of pure shock from losing his brother not even realizing what he was doing, leading to problems with his fist. Allie's mitt is first presented in chapter five as readers get to see the significance that this holds to Holden. Holden’s inability to let go of Allie's mitt shows his incapability of accepting reality and symbolizes the connection that Holden holds onto Allie. As he writes the English composition for Stradlater, he pulls out the mitt to write down the poems present on the mitt," Old Allie's baseball mitt. I happened to have it with me, in my suitcase, so I got it out and copied down the poems that were written on it." Readers can infer that this might have been the first time Holden had ever written and expressed his emotions about the trauma of losing his brother and " sort of liked writing about it". This is also evident in chapter twenty-five as he asks Allie not to leave him as he reaches the end of every block. " I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, " Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." This is another example of Holden holding onto Allie even after his death. The last is acceptance as Holden finally seems to accept the death of his brother at the end of chapter twenty- five as he watches Phoebe ride the carousel. He worries about Phoebe falling off to grab the gold ring and comes to a conclusion. “ The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for

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