Final Analysis Report on Holden Caulfield Depressed, Schizophrenic, Psychotic, Crazy, and many more are some of the words used when describing Holden Caulfield’s mental state. Holden continuously isolates himself from others as well as the society he lives in, has many acts of uncontrollable anger, and attempts to run away from New York to isolate himself even more than before. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden indicates that he is telling the story, his story from a mental hospital, “This madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy (Salinger, 1).” This statement also indicates that from the beginning of the novel Holden withdrew himself from society and isolated himself from others. The first hint the readers receive that indicates that …show more content…
He continuously expresses his desire to run away with Sally, he seems quite obsessed with Sally even; he explains to her as what he sees as the "phony" aspects of the world, “I hate living in New York and all. Taxicabs, and Madison Avenue buses, with the drivers and all always yelling at you to get out at the rear door, and being introduced to phony guys that call the Lunts angels, and going up and down in elevators when you just want to go outside, and guys fitting your pants all the time at Brooks (Salinger, 17).” There are many other instances/examples of Holden withdrawing from society, but I see these as the three most important to his character; Isolation, Poor anger management, and runaway attempts. I do not believe that holden suffers from a mental disorder, I believe that his reaction to a traumatic event is fairly appropriate but this does not justify most of his poor actions such as drinking and smoking. Holden feels as if he is better off alone which results in him isolating himself from