Depression In Catcher In The Rye

Stress, depression, and confusion, has made the protagonist a interesting character. The author J.D Salinger represents Holden in The Catcher in the Rye as a failing student at Pencey Prep trying to go through life the best he can. However Holden's life has not been easy many things have happened to Holden. Throughout Holden's life many things have hurt him and many things have helped him such as adults, children, women, and peers. How ever as throughout the book Holden has changed how he interacts with people. Adults in Holden's life have played a big role in changing Holden and attempting to make Holen who he is by the end of the book. In the beginning of the book Holden is failing his classes and adults around him try to help and find out why such as Mr. Spencer. “And how many are you failing in?”(Salinger 10). This quote is explaining that Mr. Spencer is interested on how many classes Holden is failing and why he is failing Mr.Spencer's class. “I doubt very much if you opened your textbook even once the whole term”(Salinger 11). This quote shows that Holden did not do much in school and this is why Holden is failing history and most likely why Holden is failing the other four classes. So as Holden struggles to pass classes and tries not to fail out of Pencey Holden does end up failing out of Pencey. Even though the teachers tried to
help Holden, Holden has no choice but to move schools and start over. Children and peers have also tried to help Holden in there own way some were successful, while others led to Holdens down look on life.Take children for example, they were a positive outlook on Holden's life for many reasons, such as not making Holden feel depressed about life. “It made me feel not so depressed any more”(Salinger 115). This made Holden feel less depressed for a couple of reasons. It was a child singing and the book hint that Holden has a connection with children; the child represents innocence to Holden and so that brings out the good in Holden and makes Holden feel good. A way that peers have hurt Holden is when Holden is at the ice rink with Sally and then they get in an argument and end up splitting apart. “I went inside and got my shoes and stuff, and left without her”(Salinger 134). This was a major hit to Holden's outlook on life because Holden was hoping to have a good life with Sally and he shot that idea in the foot and so it made Holden very depressed. Even though Holden's outlook on children lessened Holden's depression the bad decision by Holden with Sally counteracts the good and makes Holden's depression stay. Lastly Holden's encounters with women have not been to good and sends Holden's path for a better life down hill. When holden got beaten up by Sunny the striper and Maurice. “ All i felt was this terrific punch in my stomach”(Salinger 103). After this incident, Holden is depressed and hurt. Also, Holden is out five bucks, but not all encounters with girls have been bad. For example, Holden's sister Phoebe. Holden's relationship with Phoebe is excellent; Holden always wants to talk to Phoebe and Holden goes out of the way to get Phoebe something. “There was this record I wanted to get for Phoebe, called “Little Shirley Beans”. It was a very hard record to get”(Salinger 114). During this time of connection between Holden and Phoebe, Holden works very hard to get something nice for Phoebe and Holdens caring side come out and become nice for one of the first times in the book. While most of Holden's encounters with women have been not so great the encounter with Phoebe brings out a new side of Holden. Throughout the Catcher in the Rye, Holden has experienced a bunch and all the thing that have happened to him have changed who he is and it all follows a trend.
That trend point to depression and a little bit of craziness, especially at the end of the book when Holden is talking to a psychoanalyst. “A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here…”(Salinger 213). By the end of the book, Holden seems to be more appreciative of the world. “If you do, you start missing everybody”(Salinger 114). This shows that, by the end, Holden is compassionate about everyone he has met and that he misses them, even
Ackley.