A Hero? Or An Egocentric person? According to DBSA, the major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older. The major depressive disorder can develop at any age. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is a teenage boy who goes through depression and refuses to lose his innocence. Throughout the novel, Holden experiences several difficulties and doesn’t accept the reality that he can’t be the catcher in the rye. Holden’s way of organizing his thoughts, his behaviors, and mannerism reinforce one of the novel’s theme, depression. Throughout the novel, Holden breaks lots of rules or the proper ways of doing things. For …show more content…
When he saw the little boy, he thought, “he was making out like he was walking in straight line, the way kids do, and the whole time he kept singing and humming” (115). He wants the children to stay pure and not be phonies like the adults. He believes that most of the children didn’t lose their innocence and act like kids, which Holden wants. When he sees a child with innocence, he pays attention and wants to know more about them. Another example is when he was talking to Phoebe about his dream, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…” (173). He wants to stop the little kids from growing up and from losing their innocence. He doesn’t realize the truth that everyone has to grow up including himself. It also shows that Holden is caring about the little kids and wants to be the one who cares for them. Holden doesn’t want to grow up, and he is afraid of gaining the responsibilities that come with it. He is also afraid that the children might go through the same trouble that he went through. Holden’s mannerism, his personalities, reinforce the novel’s