Short Story: Holden’s Condition

The many red flags seen in Holden throughout the book such as not sleeping or eating, excessive drinking, and wanting to commit suicide is seen in many teenagers around the world. Holden’s experiences can teach people to reach out to those showing signs of depression or those who are depressed to reach out to those who care about you to get help. While reading this novel I experienced great sympathy for Holden because someone who is desperately needing that help deserves and needs to get

From the beginning of the book the reader can interpret that Holden is a person who seemingly likes to be detached from society. He isolates himself from the football game and instead decides to stand in solitude upon a hill, looking down at all those below him. As he strives to find a goodbye to Pencey Academy, one can see that this is not a new experience for him, as he divulges the details of his mobile past, jumping from one school to the next.

Holden’s contempt for adults goes deeper than teen angst or a need to rebel. Rebellion is done out of a need for attention, however in Holden’s case he acts upon a fear and unresolved childhood trauma. Throughout the novel, we see our character Holden bouncing around denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Holden lost his brother to leukemia; Holden was 13, while Allie was 11. Holden was left devastated. At the beginning of this book we see Holden in isolation watching the football game on his own atop a hill after a long disappointing day in New York. Holden tells us about when he found out about Allie’s death, and in a fit of rage punched the windows out of the garage of their summer home, breaking his hand with the desire to punch the car windows out. Holden was unable to reconcile the loss of Allie. He missed the funeral because of his accident and continues to not visit the grave because of his denial of the situation. Holden used bargaining when he asked Allie to catch him in his fall through depression. Holden perceived the children of the rye as falling, while he was the only one actually falling with no one to catch him. Throughout the entire novel except in short bits, Holden claims to be depressed and hates being around those with less than himself. Finally, at the end of the book, Holden reaches an acceptance that he can’t control everything and life continues. He has to let go and allow others to reach for that carousel's golden ring even if they do fall along the

The whole book is set as a flashback of Holden's past year. When he starts narrating the story, he mentions that he got "pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy". This says that Holden has had a tough year, with a breakdown, he is in some kind of place where he's taking it easy. His previous diction/word choice gives us hints that he might actually be in a mental hospital(words like madman). He describes the place as 'crumby' and also says that his brother, D.B., visits him every weekend. And, at the very end of the book, last chapter (26), Holden says, "...this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school next September." 'Psychoanalysis' is, according to FreeDictionary, " The method of

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

Holden feels such as he might disappear and has not been the same even though it has been three years since his brother’s passing. Holden wishes that everything can just be the same and invisions a utopian society. The museum is another example which Holden includes in the book. He introduced the museum in the book because he wishes that life were just like it, nothing ever makes a change and everything stays the same. Holden is very optimist and hopes that children will stay as children and will not have to step into the adult world.

Holden is trying to protect children from losing their innocence, but how he is doing that is by trying to help his little sister. He is trying to help his sister by showing her fun, but he needs to take care of himself more. Because if he doesn’t he will slowly lose his mind, by having a mental breakdown. When Holden is hanging out in the city, he is thinking about how much his life sucks. For most of the book Holden is trying not to think about his life, because he doesn’t want to think about the consequences. Holden is pretty batty throughout the book, he is always thinking of a hundred things at one time. Holden is stressed out during the whole book, because he was kicked out of his school and is worried his parents will find out. So he hides in New York during the book, where he is doing stupid things.

In the novel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden, the main character, is in a mental hospital where he is telling the story of how he got there. Holden starts his story around the time where he gets kicked out of his school, Pencey Prep. Holden, who has gotten kicked out of two schools including Pencey has to face his parents who do not know that he got kicked out of Pency yet. Up to now, Holden has had a rough life between his brother Allie dying of cancer and having to go to multiple different schools. On the other hand, Holden cares about very few things.

The beginning of this novel leads into his life, Holden 's past, and what 's waiting for him in the future. In the first few chapters we find out that Holden Caulfield, the main character, goes to therapy and his older brother is a writer in Hollywood. Early on he goes to visit a man named Mr. spencer, his retired history teacher who is sick with the flu. They begin talking about his recent expulsion, and they speak of Holden 's future. He was sent to boarding school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. The school he attends is called Pencey Prep. His roommate 's name is Stradlater. Holden and Stradlater don 't see eye to eye when it comes to girls, especially when Stradlater starts dating Holden 's longtime childhood friend, Jane. The story goes to describe his living condition and the people Holden is surrounded by at Pency Prep. A person that plays a major role is his suite mate Ackley, who is a lonesome character. He annoys Holden, but still influences some of his decisions. Ackley and Stradler do not get along and Holden many times has to break up their minor fights. Later the reader finds out that Allie, Holden 's younger brother, died of Leukemia many years before. Holden goes on much to say that he had red hair and was an innocent boy. The night Allie died, Holden spent the night in the garage and smashed every window with his fists. Going back to Stradlater, he was getting home from his date with Jane, the long lost friend, and Holden gets so enraged he begins to throw

An underpinning theme to the novel is identity, at such a formative stage in life we all look for a sense of self. And at the foundation of Holden’s individuality is his constant sense of loneliness and anti-authoritarian temperament. Like every adolescent, he is on the cusp of adulthood, and therefore confronted with the pursuit of identity. The motif of loneliness is due to Holden’s inability to find balance in belonging and being unique. He is

​Holden considers himself an outcast in comparison to those around him. Maturing at a young age, he struggles to find his purpose in the world and refuses to accept the beginning of adulthood. Still grieving from the death of his younger brother, Allie, Holden believes that his childhood was taken away from him tragically and unfairly. This mindset doesn’t allow him to grow

Holden is overwhelmed by change, and it leads him to prefer things that stay the same or do not change. We see that when Holden goes to the museum that he realizes that the only thing that ever changes is the people. At the museum the exhibits never

In the first chapter of this novel, we get introduced to the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden Caufield, from a rest home in which he has been sent for therapy. He refuses to talk about his early life, although he does explain that his older brother “D.B” sold out to writing for Hollywood. His story and breakdown begins in the school of Pencey Prep, a boarding school set in Pennsylvania. The setting for the early chapters in the narration is his "terrible" school, to which he describes the atmosphere to be “as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill”. Holden’s student career at Pencey Prep has been destroyed by his refusal to apply himself. We know this after Holden explains he failed four of his five subjects, passing only English. Due to his lack of effort and determination, he was forbidden to return to the school after the term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation began, Holden overlooked the football field, where Pencey usually

The story begins with Holden at his fourth school, Pencey Prep, as he had been kicked out of the previous three he attended. Holden knew a similar fate would be on its way for him at Pencey too, as he was failing every class except English. Holden perhaps would have stayed until he was officially kicked out of the school, but after an altercation that turned bloody between Holden and his roommate Stradlater, he decided to run away from Pencey then and there. He begins

Holden’s depression about his brother’s death, affects his personal life. This matters because it explains why Holden always acts so negative in the book. These feelings are more remorse than the “normal” person. The book also goes heavily detail in these emotions, which could persuade the reader to feel these same emotions about others. Holden gets so wrapped up in all of his emotions, that he begins to critique others around him, even the people who are trying to help