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Holden Caulfield Mental Illness

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Recommended: The catcher in the rye analysis of holden caulfield

J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye is a story about a 16-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield. Holden is expelled from Pencey Preparatory School because he flunked four of the subjects he was taking. He realizes Pencey would send a letter home to his parents informing them of what had happened. Holden thinks it would be best for him to stay in hotels in New York City for a couple of days, to allow some of his parent’s anger to dissipate, before finally leaving to go home. While in New York City, Holden goes to bars and meets up with some of his friends. After being in New York City, Holden goes home to tell his sister, Phoebe, that he is leaving to go live in the far west as a deaf-mute person. I think Holden has very severe mental health problems …show more content…

Holden’s younger brother, Allie, died of leukemia when he was eleven years old and Holden was thirteen years old. Another tragic thing that Holden had to face was the suicide of one of his classmates by jumping out of a window. This impacted Holden’s character in a major way, from not being able to trust people because they were “phonies'' to having a mental breakdown in the park. Major events that lead me to believe that he was not okay mentally are when he punched all the windows out of the garage, he imagines he sees Allie, he fantasizes about committing suicide, made a rash decision to go live in the west as a deaf/mute, and gets drunk many, many times. All of these instances show Holden has a lot of grief in his life. Holden punching out the windows and wanting to move out west showed that he had angry outbursts without thinking about the consequences of his actions. Oddly enough, throughout the story, Holden imagines he sees Allie, and he talks with him. I think that this is a way for Holden to push away the fact that Allie has passed away. I also think that Holden longs to …show more content…

The location at which this story begins is Pencey Preparatory School in the fictional town of Agerstown, Pennsylvania. The school has many students attending, many of whom are labeled as “phonies''. After Holden gets kicked out of school, he goes to New York City, and this is where the majority of this story takes place. Holden tends to go to bars every evening where he sees some of his friends due to it being Christmas break for other schools in the area. At night, Holden bounces around to various hotels in the

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522 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1722 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the book holden gives off a vibe of being depressed, which might have started when his brother passed away. It’s seems like after that happened he lost all enthusiasm and energy to really try and also to really plan out his future. Most

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481 Words | 2 Pages

The catcher in the rye tells the story of Holden Caufield, a teenage boy who recently got kicked out from his fourth school. Holden decides to leave the school before he is scheduled to and wanders around New York. Holden shows many symptoms of depression throughout the novel such as, disengaging from activities, not doing his school work and having no interests or hobbies. Holden shows little to no change throughout the novel and does not develop as a character. Holden’s flight reaction is something that stays with him throughout the book.

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553 Words | 3 Pages

These problems he is having are not normal and should be addressed immediately. I think that this advanced stage of depressions may have been worsened by his parents. Holden undoubtedly believes that he was abandoned by his parents by them sending him to boarding schools instead of bringing him home to confront his actually problems. Also the separation of him form the rest of his family for the most part has made him miss his brother more which has worsened his

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648 Words | 3 Pages

Haley O’Neal English I 3/12/18 Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Sallinger, 1951 Catcher in the Rye is a fictional story by J.D. Sallinger that tells the story of sixteen year old Holden Caufield during the 1950s. It wasn’t clear as to where exactly the story took place, but it is inferred that Holden was narrating it from a mental hospital. Holden begins his story talking about how he is about to be expelled from Pencey Prep. He was failing four-out-of-five classes, and was not putting forth any effort.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

Stricken Catcher in the rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger about boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden over the course of days He goes from completely unethical person to downright unbearable. He starts out at Pencey the school that he was currently frequenting until they gave him the axe. He then left Pencey”sleep tight, ya morons!” with about three days left of down time (he left Pencey early.).

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417 Words | 2 Pages

Holden says it "drives [him] crazy if somebody gets killed...and it's somebody else's fault," referring to Mercutio in this instance. However, his statement also applies to Allie, who died from leukemia through no fault of his own. Holden expresses his frustration and disillusionment with the world in this situation. Holden has already informed us that his parents are apathetic to his situation: after he shows his frustration at his brother's death by punching out the windows, instead of addressing his grief sympathetically, Holden's parents attempt to send him to be "psychoanalyzed". Holden should be diagnosed with teen grief, rather be sent to a mental institution, an unhealthy, oppressive environment which would dramatically worsen his condition, because of a personality disorder that he does not have.

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1065 Words | 5 Pages

To begin, early in the novel Holden tells the reader about his younger brother Allie that passed away due to leukemia. It is also made known to the reader that Holden has PTSD from this tragic situation. Holden has a hard time trusting people because of this, and has struggled with mental illness since Allies death. In addition to trust issues and PTSD, Holden tends to go into a fantasy world when he gets depressed. In that world, he “talks” to Allie out loud as if he was there.

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1126 Words | 5 Pages

The story starts with Holden starting to tell you what happened to him to have gotten him in this mental institution in California. Holden begins his journey at Pencey Prep, a boarding school in New York. It 's a Saturday and there 's a big football game going on and Holden decides not to go to. Following Holden to his history teacher 's house, Holden is given a stern talk to about his expulsion. After the talk with Mr. Spencer, Holden heads back to his dorm room, where you meet Ackley, a student of Pencey Prep and Holden 's next door neighbor.

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1092 Words | 5 Pages

Holden’s difficulties growing up relate to his anxiety about what he is leaving behind. His emotional level became stuck when his brother Allie died. He believes that if he grows up, he will leave his brother behind. In Holden’s eyes, Allie was perfect. He was kind-hearted and innocent, which Holden misses the most about him.

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656 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1400 Words | 6 Pages

Purpose: To show how a small change in choice could affect holden’s life The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from New York. The novel starts with Holden, writing in his book, hinting that he is in some sort of mental facility .Even though he comes from a wealthy family,because of his loss of interest in studies,and low grades, he gets expelled from all schools he has studied in .Holden leaves his final school, Pency Prep and decides that he will stay in New York City until his parents learn of his expulsion and “cool down” .Most of the novel is dedicated to Holden’s time in the city, Holden lives in a hotel room for a few days during his stay .Holden then starts meeting with people that he used know, some strangers and goes to places with. From his conversations, he

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783 Words | 4 Pages

The first cause of Holden 's mental illness that readers notice is that he lacks control over his actions. As Holden was 13 years old, his brother Allie died of leukemia. Holdens behavior in response to his brothers death was very violent. “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 (Holden Caulfield 39).” Holden admits that he didn’t know he was doing it, but says it was a stupid thing to do.

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1998 Words | 8 Pages

The novel additionally manages complex issues of personality, having a place, misfortune, association, and distance. Holden starts his story at Pencey Prep, an elite non-public school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, on the Saturday evening of the customary football diversion with opponent school Saxon Hall. Sadly, Holden winds up missing the diversion. As administrator of the fencing group, he loses their gear on a New York City metro prepare that morning, bringing about the abrogation of a match. He goes to the home of his History instructor named Mr. Spencer.

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837 Words | 4 Pages

Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

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