Holden Caulfield Mental Illness

More than fifty percent of Americans will be diagnosed with mental illnesses at some point in their lifetime(CDC). J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield is from a wealthy upper class family that lives in New York City but Holden has been going to a private high school called Pencey Prep which is the third school he is failing out of. Holden leaves Pencey early to go home and faces many challenges and mentally traumatic situations in the streets of New York City. Due to the death of his brother and the trauma associated with it, Holden Caulfield’s mental health deteriorates throughout Catcher in the Rye. In the beginning of the story, the reader can notice some thoughts and behaviors of

Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye Robert Evans writes “Holden seems remote from nearly everyone. We do get inside his head, and some readers clearly empathize with his thoughts and feelings, but Holden rarely invites us (or anyone) into genuine communion. Instead, his general attitude is cynical and judgmental, and he rarely finds—and rarely seeks—a sincere, enduring bond with another person.” (Evans) This behavior from Holden clearly shows that he may have some mental or social issues right from the start of the book. Clearly, the reader can see some signs of social issues caused by mental trauma at the beginning of Catcher in the

Each time he crosses a street, he imagines he will "disappear" and "never get to the other side of the street." I do not take this so much as a symbolic manifestation of "identity crisis" and of his fear that he "may never reach maturity"—although both are implicit—but rather as a literal, psychologically valid description of the boy's breakdown. He retreats into wild fantasies of running away forever, living in a cabin near, but not in, the woods ("I'd want it to be sunny as hell all the time"), and feigning deaf-muteness, all to escape the confusion about to engulf him.”.This analysis by the author clearly shows that Holden has reached his breaking point. The two pieces of evidence used above show and explain how Holden has reached his breaking point. Additionally, the reader subsequently finds out that Holden has written this story from a mental hospital. Clearly, the decline of Holden’s mental health results in him reaching his breaking