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Literary Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye

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For many teens, growing up is a time of uncertainty and anxiety. In J.D. Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye” after a troubled childhood, a teenaged boy is plagued with psychological weaknesses. Holden, a depressed 16-year-old boy, is kicked out of school and decides to have a weekend to find himself in New York City. Through descriptions of Holden’s past as well as descriptions of his involuntary and voluntary reactions to situations in the present, Salinger uses characterization and first point of view to convey the message that Holden’s state of mind is fragile enough that he should be in a “rest home.” Holden’s frail state of mind and his depression began years ago at the time of his younger brother, Allie’s, death. On the day of Allie’s …show more content…

He exhibits that he is feeling defeated by his emotional state and is no longer willing to apply himself. While Holden is having a conversation with his History teacher, Mr. Spencer, he is asked, “Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?” Holden’s replies, “Oh, I feel some concern for my future, alright. Sure. Sure, I do.” But then as he thought about it, Holden realizes, “but not too much, I guess. Not too much, I guess” (Salinger 17). Holden is in such a bad state of mind that he is not motivated to study and work to enhance his future. Through Holden’s characterization and internal thoughts, a past experience of a classmate committing suicide by jumping out of a window unconsciously affects him today. After meeting with a prostitute and only having a conversation, Holden feels even lonelier than ever. He states, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would have done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (Salinger 117). Since even death seems like a hopeless option, Holden doesn’t see an escape from the troubles he’s having. It sends him farther into mental illness and closer to being admitted to a “rest

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If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 7). Holden has no one, or so he thinks. This leads to a very unhealthy mental state and almost causes Holden’s suicide. His family and friends are the only ones who can help him. Sadly, family couldn’t save Ashoke Ganguli.

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To make matters worse, his life isn’t looking very optimistic at this point either. “I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up” (Salinger 50). Evidently, Holden is in an unhealthy psychological state of mind, as the pressure and embarrassment of flunking out of Pencey Prep combined with the passing of his brother and keeping his emotions bottled up inside are becoming too much for Holden to take. He even considers waking up Ackley for a chat, an awkward senior with a very limited social

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The book The Catcher in the Rye is a story of internal conflicts and the shallowness of adulthood. The main character, Holden, is struggling to maintain his strong voice of innocence in a fight only involving himself. One of the many reasons for Holden’s emotional devastation is the death of his younger brother Allie. Allie passed away three years earlier from leukemia and this of course highly affected Holden’s mental state at the time even if he didn’t know it. Salinger’s tone held the most importance of this book.

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In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger illustrates how children mature through their exposure to trauma. Salinger uses character interactions to show the effects of a child's mindset when experiencing childhood trauma. Holden experiments with many different illegal activities including drugs and alcohol, which connects back to his childhood home experience. Holden grew up in a very intense childhood home situation.

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This shows Holden is trying to cover up his own vulnerability about not wanting to grow up and instead masks it with immature comments of others to make himself feel younger and childlike. Another example of Holden's critical observations is when he and Jane are intruded on by her mother's husband asking where the cigarettes are. Holden has a very critical opinion of the man immediately. In Holden’s perspective, this man is who Holden believes he should be, and it intimidates him because Holden knows he does not want to be like this stereotypical man. Holden says, “I didn't know him too well or anything, but he looked like the kind of a guy that wouldn't talk to you much unless he wanted something off you.

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This quote is considered to show the pessimistic view of Holden “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome”(Salinger 169). This quote shows much of how Holden feels as he uses depressed and lonesome together in the novel. The way Holden feels is that when he is lonely it makes depressed.

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The novel Catcher in the Rye highlights the struggles that millions of teenagers face as Holden must wrestle with his identity and perception of others. One persistent struggle throughout the story is suicide ideation, when one experiences a progression and range of contemplations, wishes, and preoccupations with death and suicide. It is clear Holden undergoes many steps of suicide ideation and has a fixation on death either with his brother, Ally’s, or his own. He is falling down a bottomless cliff, but due to Pheobe and Mr. Antolini, Holden is able to pull himself up by the lifeline they provide for him, realizing that death is a natural cycle of life that should not be forced and that suicide will only cause pain for himself and those he

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And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them,” (Salinger 224-225). Holden finds comfort in this fantasy because he is saving children from having to encounter adult life. Holden cannot figure out adult relationships and wants to protect childhood relationships because these are the

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In particular, an instance of Holden’s willingness to die for a noble cause rather than living is his encounter at the Edmont Hotel with Maurice and Sunny, the prostitute who he doesn’t even have sex with. When Holden is confronted by the duo to steal five dollars from him, he speaks out and refuses to pay. His efforts were to no avail though, as he not only gets punched but also his money taken away from him. After pretending to be shot, he finally reveals what he felt like doing, which “…was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.”

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