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Holden's Loss In Catcher In The Rye

744 Words3 Pages

Growing up and dealing with the stresses of entering the adult world could be the hardest past of one’s life, especially without the right guidance. In The Catcher in the Rye, author J. D. Salinger shows how Holden struggles during this time. On top of his brother Allie’s death, Holden’s inability to fit in causes him to unravel throughout the book as the novel progresses. As Holden narrates his point of view, we could truly understand why Holden’s mental state worsens. Throughout the novel, Holden has moments that lead to his inevitable breakdown because of his different struggles with Phoebe, and his inability to get along with others. Three moments that further unravel Holden are when Allie dies, when Holden leaves Pencey, and when his sister …show more content…

Allie’s death had a huge impact on Holden’s mental health, as he and Allie were really close brothers. If Allie never dies, Holden might not have been in such a bad mental state throughout the book. On the night Allie dies of Leukemia, Holden sleeps in the garage and breaks all the windows “just for the hell of it.” (Chapter 5) Holden further adds, “I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer.” (Chapter 5) We learn later in the novel that Holden was sent to the hospital with permanent hand injuries. Allie’s death was clearly a very traumatic experience in Holden’s life and plays a significant role in why Holden cannot connect with other people. After his death, Holden compares everyone he sees with Allie and rejects people who he believes to have lost their innocence. Everyone that isn’t up to his standard are “phonies.” Even towards the end of the book, Holden could not get closure with his brother’s death and is constantly reminded of his dead brother whenever he is feeling …show more content…

When Holden sees his sister coming to him with her bags packed, he almost faints. This forces Holden to finally see how his plans are affecting those he cares about. Holden harshly asks Phoebe, “‘ I thought you were supposed to be in a play at school and all. I thought you were supposed to be Benedict Arnold…’” The quote shows Holden realizing how much Phoebe will sacrifice in order to go with him. Although Holden shows maturity when he agrees to back off from his plans, it devastates Holden, knowing he cannot run away from his problems anymore. He realizes he has no choice but to stay in a world where he doesn’t

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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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In those three days he frequently talks about his dead brother Allie and how he misses him, off the wall subjects, supposed friendships and sex talk. Because of Allies death Holden's grief has made him became a loner who is as immature as a thirteen year old and needs to say goodbye. Holden is a loner a person who shuns people not a people person whatever

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This moment of recalling the moments he has with Allie, and looking back at what Allie was like was a heartfelt moment for Holden, and him choosing to write the essay about Allie’s mitt shows Holden’s connection and love for Allie and the relationship he had with him. Later on towards the end of the novel, we can see Holden frantically walking down the streets yet again, as he finds himself slowly losing touch of reality, and starting to do strange things. When this happens, Holden recognizes that his first instinct was to call for his brother to help him. Holden explains, “Then I started doing something else… I'd make believe I was

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The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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People do not expect the death of a loved one to occur at such a young age, and so abruptly like Allie 's death. The smashing of the windows shows the huge impact that he had on Holden, and how upset he was that he no longer had his brother by his side. Holden was uncertain in how to deal with this upsetting change in his life, resulted in aggressive behavior. Holden was also exposed to another traumatic event in his life during his time at Pencey. After being introduced to one of Holden 's classmates Castle he states, ¨Finally, what he did, instead of

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Allie died at the age of eleven because of leukemia. Holden was very connected to Allie; he was more like an older brother to him than Holden was to Allie because Allie was very smart, nice, special, and knew what to do unlike Holden. Holden was very hurt to the point he broke all the windows in the garage and was hospitalized. In the present time, Holden becomes isolated from the society around him. He doesn’t allow himself to get too close to anyone.

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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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His younger brother Allie has died at the age of eleven and seems to have had a big impact on Holden’s life, as Holden repeatedly refers to his brother throughout the book. Holden has many encounters with others throughout the book, but the two that stand out as being the most affected by the other person’s actions are, the interaction with the two nuns, and his encounter with the Maurice and Sunny.

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In remembering the events, Holden resorts to accusing readers by saying, “... and you didn’t know Allie.” He does so to provide justification for his reckless behavior. This statement implies that it was Allie’s special character and personality that justify Holden’s violence. Since Holden insists Allie is so much of a better person than anyone else in the world, moving on from his death is a challenge that Holden never conquers. When speaking of his brother’s death, Holden recalls, “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all” (39).

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The only motivator that Holden has to continue living is his younger sister, Phoebe, who is extraordinarily intelligent for her age. After he gets kicked out of Pencey, Holden is lost in life. He speaks to many people, seeking advice and comfort, but they are not able to help him find a human connection. Holden’s depression increases throughout the novel, almost to the point of suicide. He criticizes many people and ideas, labeling them as ‘phony’.

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Allies reoccurring presence in Holden 's life causes him to obsess about the unknown future. Since Allie was on of the only people holden was able to relate to, his death took a

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In this quote he tells that his brother died. This shows his brother died when he was young. Furthermore he dies as an innocent child who was not exposed to the adult world or the “phoniness.” Allie's death was tragic to Holden but maybe, in some ways Holden wanted the death himself, he wanted to preserve his innocence. Another point that shows Allie's mitt represents innocence is when Holden says Allie used to read poems on his glove while playing baseball which he wrote before the game so he wouldn’t be bored.

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Holden's Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

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A. Allie’s death causes Holden to become obsessed with death and this obsession makes him believe that growing up and becoming a “phonie” is like dying; this belief that is planted inside Holden’s head when Allie died is what sends him on a quest to preserve children’s innocence and save them from the “death” of growing up. B. Salinger includes the traumatic story of Allies death that happened years in advance to provide an explanation for Holden’s obsession with death and how he sees loss of innocence as equivalent to dying. Allie died with his innocence still intact, so Holden does not want other children to grow up and have their innocence “die”. C. Holden even admits to being mentally unstable after his brother’s traumatic death when he says, “I was only 13, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all

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