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How Does Holden Use Depression In Catcher In The Rye

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In the book, the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Salinger presents the protagonist and narrator Holden Caulfield as a young man stuck between the mental state of childhood and adulthood who is dealing with neglect, confusion, and depression. He is forced to endure anguishing life events that set his mental state into a spiral causing his mental stability to deteriorate significantly at a very young age. A way Salinger displays the concept of depression through Holden’s mindset is by fabricating him as an overly critical and fault-finding character in every environment he’s presented in. Ever since childhood, we learn Holden was a black sheep within the family; we assimilate and learn about his overachieving siblings and his exclusion …show more content…

It was late at night and as he headed into the city of New York encountering both familiar and unfamiliar aspects. During his stay there he hops around in hotels in an effort to avoid coming in contact with his disappointed neglectful parents. Holden is currently enraged and just wants to get away from everything but even in the state he is currently in, He does not stop the fault-finding habit he has integrated into his way of thinking. One of his first encounters was at the Edmont Hotel; he first came across the bellboy. His first view of him was, “... this very old guy around sixty-five. He was even more depressing than the room was….Anyway, what a gorgeous job for a guy around sixty-five years old. Carrying people's suitcases and waiting around for a tip. I suppose he wasn't too intelligent or anything…”(69). In this quote Holden is making a mental note of this bellboy, to him he appears like a depressing mindless old man waiting around for a tip from strangers. This is an important factor because it shows us a different side of Holden's fault-finding mindset. It teaches us how he does not need to be acquainted with the person to judge them, he can simply judge a person who is just lending him a hand and has no business with

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In the beginning of the book soon after being told he couldn’t return the following semester he decides to simply leave the school and wander around New York City. In New York, Holden continues to get himself into trouble. For example, he hired a prostitute and did not give her the correct amount of money resulting in her pimp beating him up. At the end of the novel, he made a plan to run away again. Although, this time he decided he would go to a far away place and live on his own in the middle of nowhere.

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JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye is about a boy named Holden Caulfield and his struggle with life. As a teenager, he has one goal and that is to simply find his place in the world. Unlike an ordinary teenager he has a severe case of depression, and displays many signs to exhibit this mental illness. As we escalate through the novel, we notice that his depression seems to be getting worse and that he is feeling despondent more often.

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Denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Holden is already a lonely individual. He adventures around New York City, which is highly populated, and he probably passes thousands of people, but does not understand the concept on socializing with people and respect. He often finds himself criticizing them, this keeps him isolated from everyone. Holden later finds himself trying to exempt the feeling of being lonely by calling people from his childhood, and eventually people he barely knew just so he had someone to talk to.

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Augustine Awadalla Ms. St. John English I 1 May 2023 What is a topic, insight, theme, image, pattern, etc. that you noticed throughout the book that you would be interested in exploring in an essay? A theme that I would be interested in exploring further is how Holden copes with the nervousness and depression that he seems to be constantly experiencing throughout the novel.

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Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, is depressed not because of the environment he is in, but because of his perception of it. For most of the book, we see how he is continuously depressed by the digressions he makes, such as considering a stranger’s story, which ends up having no importance to him, except for the fact that it depresses him. He also is constantly angry at "phonies," who, to Holden, are essentially flawed people. This applies anywhere he goes, meaning that the only constant thing, and therefore the cause, is Holden himself. However, by the end of the book, we see how he has grown happy, despite the world he lives in.

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In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield is depressed, sarcastic and dishonest. As Holden is conversing with his roommate Ackley, he suddenly [wishes he was dead], this contextual image describes Holden’s internal conflict with depression. Soon afterwards, Holden abruptly decides that he is leaving Pencey and starts packing his bags, he notices ice skates that his mother bought earlier and claims that presents “[make him sad]”, this contextual image hints to Holden’s depression as he is unhappy at a time when most people are joyful. Throughout chapters 7-12 Holden constantly repeats the phrase “lonesome and depressed” this repetition highlights Holden’s fight with depression. Holden is dishonest, lying

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There are many causes for depression. Some causes are death or a loss of someone close to a person can cause serious grief or sadness. A band named Daughter wrote “Youth” which is a song about getting hurt by or losing someone or something that she had loved in her past. People she has loved often leave which hurts her because she loved them. In the book, Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in the same situation as the writer of the song and people he is often close with leave him.

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Mental Disorders, Isolation, & Holden Caulfield - How They Relate To Each Other Stigmatization; disapproval of an individual based on social characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Specifically, the stigmatization of mental illnesses in society can lead to one to experience prevalent alienation, depressive thoughts, and even suicidal tendencies. The buildup of these occurrences can be traced back to a traumatic incident that consequently takes an emotional toll on an individual in various formats. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield, the main character, is depicted as someone who suffers from clinical depression and bipolar disorder based on his behavioral and verbal interactions

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During his short time in Manhattan, just the thought of his yellowness and his gloves being stolen at Pencey Prep depresses him to the point where he decides to have more alcoholic drinks after a night in the town. After a night in which Holden didn’t socialize the way he wanted to, he feels so depressed that he wished he died. These instances are important, because it shows that his feelings are unreasonable, and as a result, his depression affects his rational

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The first time the readers see Holden’s version of the truth; always lying even though that contradicts all the statements about everyone else being a “goddamn phony”, is when he he meets a peers mother on the train “"Oh, how lovely! Perhaps you know my son, then, Ernest Morrow? He goes to Pencey." "Yes, I do. He's in my class."

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The Catcher in the Rye Thematic Essay Imagine living a lonesome life, full of fear and little hope of better days to come. Imagine the toll this would take on a person’s life and how they develop as a person. For Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D Salinger’s classic The Catcher in the Rye this, is his reality. Holden is a sixteen year old troubled boy suffering through major mental issues and living a rather a depressing life for a teenager. Throughout the novel he goes through many hardships that only worsen his depression making him feel hatred towards his seemingly hellish world.

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In the novel, Catcher In the Rye, Holden went through a significant amount of psychological issues which had a huge toll on his mental well-being such as, emotional disorders, behavioral disorders, as well as the medications that were prescribed for that issue, and risk taking behaviors. The novel was based in the 50s which was when treatment for mental health and the understanding

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Moreover, Holden neglects to grow up. Salinger attributes Holden’s words by implying,‘Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure, I do.’ I thought about it for a minute.

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Boy gone crazy or depressed? Holden is in a deep depression but, does he stay depressed or go crazy? After Holden’s brother (Allie) dies he gets very depressed. Holden wasn 't even able to attend the funeral.

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Holden’s Struggle To Find Himself: Throughout the novel, The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles to find himself and who he truly is in order to be happy. His struggles relate to many things that he does or say in particular. Holden lacks with a social status with women and his family, whether it’s a relationship or being antisocial. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield experiences the complexities and struggles involved with both physical and emotional relationships.

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