“New York's terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. I kept wishing I could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old Phoebe,” explains in The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J.D. Salinger, that Holden suffers with hopelessness when he hears other person’s happiness. (81) Holden starts off his story in a boarding school, the fourth one in insert amount of years, and is flunking out. Throughout the story he shows an interest in his sister Phoebe, and other strangers alike. For the duration of reading, the Catcher in the Rye suggests that the texts focuses on Holden’s depression and his unwillingness to let go of the past and that Salinger is concerned with his inability to grow up; however, in many scenes Salinger portrays Holden as a boy who is always out acting older than his age, but still holds on to innocence. Holden’s depression is portrayed throughout the entire story. He becomes unhappy …show more content…
Holden is drawn to younger children, and nuns while he is on his journey, because they hold the key to innocence. “I couldn’t stop thinking about those two nuns. I kept thinking about that beat up old straw basket,” even after the nuns left Holden could not stop thinking about them, and how he was struggling to picture his family going around collecting money for charity. (113) Holden holds onto the memories of the nuns because to him they have internal innocence, which Holden wants everyone to have. Once Holden grows up, he loses his innocence. While reading the Catcher in the Rye, Holden exhibits depressive acts and focuses on the past. Salinger portrays Holden as a sixteen year old who has the inability to grow up, but is still interested in the adult life, with sexual venture and drinking. While also being focused on holding on to his innocence, and the innocence around