Similarities Between Holden And Abigail Williams In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows how one girl’s tantrum can create complete chaos in her small town. Though Abigail Williams desires to be an adult by sleeping with John Proctor, she responds like a child when she does not get her way. She acts inappropriately and illogically, much like Holden. Though the situations are flipped, both lack a healthy connection between their two areas in life, leading to their unruly behavior. In addition, readers of both pieces of literature may infer that there is more going on internally. Though Holden is a fictional character, analyzing his actions shows many signs of mental illness. The biggest indicator of this is the whole story itself, or more so who is listening. Throughout the entire novel, Holden

He begins by asking her to run away with him but ends the conversation with outbursts of anger when she logically declines. Though he cannot understand why his idea made little sense to Sally, he can tell that, even for him, he is “crazy” and a “madman” (Salinger 124 & 134). Even with such observations, he ultimately lacks self-insight; his idea of crazy compared to Sally’s in this moment different (Kerr). Moreover, the names are trivial and may reflect his boyish vocabulary, but he is not the only one who notices his mental state. In the early stages of publication, one company turned down Salinger’s novel because the publisher could not determine whether Holden was crazy or not (Burt). This is evidence that Holden may have had a mental illness, especially as there was much discomfort around this topic during the 1940s.
In the 1940s, Arthur Miller wrote another novel revolving around poor mental health. Willy, the main character in Death of a Salesman, is unaware of his deadly mental state. Refusing to seek advice, Willy shows signs of mental illness such as nervousness, mood swings, irrational thinking, and sleep and appetite changes, leading to his suicide. Though both Willy and Holden reflect the extremes of mental illness in literature, situations like this exist in the real