Depression In Vicki Reutter's The Catcher In The Rye

In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.

Because he believes himself to be good looking, his appearance is not an issue. However, he tends to push others away (probably unintentionally). Therefore, his peers avoid or ignore him. Peer rejection instigates low self-esteem in Holden, resulting in feelings of loneliness and depression in addition to social difficulties. Throughout the story, Holden frequently mentions feeling depressed and lonely. He also has problems getting along with people. Few outside his family desire him around. An example of this is occurs when Holden meets with Luce, an old prep school acquaintance, in a bar and is blatantly cast off.

Many students and adults do not like the novel,”The catcher in the rye”. The writer of this paper is one of those people. Most of the time the problem is the main charachter, 16 yaer old Holden Caulfeild’s tendencies an language. “ the catcher in the rye”, has been banned from many schools for these reasons, but when one takes a closer look at this seemingly spoiled teenager, one may notice that Holden has a mental illness. Holden Caulfeild has symptoms relating to post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and bipolar disorder. He should be admitted to the State Sanitariom for specialized treatment, thus resulting in better and more stable mental healt in the future for him.

Teen depression is a serious mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities. It affects how a teenager thinks, feels and behaves. It can cause emotional, functional and physical problems. Holden Caulfield lost his younger brother Allie to leukemia when Holden was thirteen years old. Following the death of Allie, Holden broke his hand punching the windows out of the garage of their summer home. Holden’s mindset reveals depression is the cause of his struggles. Depression was actively present in Holden’s behavior. The source of his depression was the death of his brother Allie. Holden was aware the entire time of his impending punishment.

     Throughout life, an individual may endure emotionally and physically straining moments causing the person to become downhearted, and or irate. These feelings are normal, but may however become a problem when these feelings prohibit someone from living a ‘normal’ life. An estimated 5.2 million American adults ages 18 to 54, or approximately 3.6 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have PTSD (Narrow, Rae, Regier). This purpose of this report is to prove whether or not Holden Caulfield, the main character of J.D. Salingers’s book The Catcher In The Rye, is depressed.

Nineteen million American adults suffer from a major case of depression (Web MD). That is a staggering one in every fifteen people (2 in our classroom alone). Holden Caulfield is clearly one of those people. Depression is a disease that leads to death but is also preventable. Psychology, stressful events, and prescription drugs are causes of depression. Stressful events brought on Holden’s depression. Holden has been trying to withstand losing a brother, living with careless parents, and not having many friends. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that takes us through the frazzled life of Holden Caulfield, who appears to be just a regular teen. But by hearing his thoughts and through heart-wrenching events in the book, the reader learns that

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Caulfield as a manic-depressive. Holden uses three techniques throughout the novel to cope with his depression. He smokes, drinks, and talks to Allie. Although they may not be positive, Holden finds comfort in these three things.

Depression, a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. This mental illness demonstrates to affect teens as much as it affects adults. Studies show that 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood. When you deal with depression, you often find it difficult to live an everyday normal life. The “Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D Salinger, narrates on the main character Holden Caulfield, a hostile and negative person, who suffers from severe depression.

Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in their lives.  However, it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person's life that he or she can no longer experience happiness.  This happens to the young boy, Holden Caulfield in J.D Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye.  Mr. Antolini accurately views the cause of Holden's depression as his lack of personal motivation, his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness to overlook the obvious which collectively results in him giving up on life before he ever really has a chance to get it started.

One can see this because he clearly states in the dialogue that he felt like jumping out the window. Holden’s mental state of mind can literally visualizes his own suicide and how and where it would take place. This quote represents the extent of Holden’s depression and loneliness and how much of it consumes him.

He says his new idea is that he would “go down to the Holland Tunnel and bum a ride, and then I'd [he’d] bum another one, and another one, and another one, and in a few days I'd [he’d] be somewhere out West where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody'd know me [him] and I'd [he’d] get a job” (218). It is impossible that a person would face that much despair and be open about it, yet not be depressed. Holden’s loneliness contributed to his depression, as loneliness is a symptom, and therefore a cause of him wanting to run away from

‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is a classic novel set in the 1950’s. Holden Caulfield is a young 16 year old boy walking through life, hardships, and criticism towards life. Throughout Holden’s story, his odd behavior is displayed in a manner which opens the readers’ eyes to an entirely new persona. One that sees the worst in everything, one that doesn’t see the reality of things, a mind unable to decipher the beauty which the world holds within. Through his behavior and thoughts, the reader is led to believe that, from the start, there’s an abnormality to Holden’s thought process. His hopelessness and lack of motivation are signs of Major Depressive Disorder. Major depressive order is a mental health disorder characterized by mood swings,

There are many issues that teens deal with in high school, such as depression, alcohol, friendship troubles, and discrimination. The four novels, The Catcher in the Rye, Unbroken, The Scorch Trials, and Prisoner B-3087 each depict one of these issues. I personally have gone through some of these difficulties during my time in high school, and the experiences have helped made me who am I am today. Throughout J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, struggles with mental issues.

Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden, the protagonist of the book, seems to go through an emotional rollercoaster throughout his travels. Some suggest that he is simply going through delayed adulthood, something that has been documented more and more today. Even though there is some evidence that could point towards that, all of his emotional issues seem to have an origin and that precise origin is much more easily described as a form of depression. He seems to be distant towards most people and his negativity towards opportunities that he is presented with ties directly to adolescent depression.

Though Holden focuses on his depression, he represents a large part of the United States’ population. On several occasions, he describes his desolation. Mentally lost and lonely in New York City, Holden finds himself with a headache and the inability to sleep, saying, “I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (Salinger 214). Relatively, the highest rate of depression occurs from ages 12-17 (Pratt)