Catcher In The Rye Character Analysis

Holden has many depressing episodes and shows them to the readers by constantly announcing his suicidal thoughts. He often lets his depression show by talking about other people like Stradlater but in reality he is reflecting on himself. He only calls out people on the things he thinks are phony or stupid but later in the novel he did the same thing. For example he constantly makes it clear that he can’t stand the movies but later on when he had some free time on his hands he went and watched a movie. It is evident that the only reason he says he hates so many things is because he's depressed making him hate everything that moves. Xxx Tentacion song “ I spoke to the devil in Miami, He said everything would be fine” portrays Holden's feelings
He isn't able to concentrate or relax without having a cigarette due to the fact that he has anxiety. He often tend to overthink stuff and show that he is nervous. Midland sings about the same problem in his song “Drinkin Problem” by singing to the beat of the guitar “ people say I have a drinkin problem/that aint a reason to stop/ people saying I hit rock bottom”.Holden Knows he has a drinking problem but doesn't seem to care too much. Although this problem made him break rules like the ones at Pency and the train of no smoking. Holden says to one of his classmates mother “Would you care for a cigarette? I asked her. She look all around. I don't believe this is a smoker Rudolf. That killed me. That's all right. We can smoke till they start screaming at us”(chapter 8). His smoking problem is not only a health problem but also a mental problem. It is a mental problem because smoking is his way of coping this and is also seen as a fast solution to ease his mind off of
He first starts with questioning Stradlater as he doges his questions, Holden get anxious and starts to offend Stradlater causing him to get in a big fight and getting beat up. Which shows that he can extremely relate to Sophies lyrics where she sings “ That old dog has you chained up all right/ give you everything you need to live inside a twisted rage/ sleep beside a empty rage/ I had a dream I was your hero”. Holden is furious because he knows how Stradlater is and he just likes to do inappropriate stuff with ladies. Holden knows that Stradlater didn't go on a date because he really liked her but because simply he was bored. This being the reason he gets in a fight with Stradlater wishing it was him on that date with Jane. Holden says in the novel, The Catcher in The Rye, “I'm too worried to go. I don't want to interrupt my worrying to go. If you knew Stradlater, you'd have been worried, too”(chapter 6). This proves that Holden has a sentimental value for Jane or else he wouldn't have been so worried for her. Jane has became a fundamental part of Holden's life because she was a best friend to him when he was suffering from trauma of his loss and would listen to his problems. Jane seems to be the only girl Holden is emotionally attached to besides his little sister, Phoebe. He also becomes her