Effects Of Holden's Death In Catcher In The Rye

Often times, a death might bring unexpected negative consequences to the grieving people, and cause them to act out or adjust differently to life without them. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, was the most afflicted in his family by his brother’s death, and he faces the ongoing repercussions of it. Shortly after Allie's death, Holden need a psychanalyst to help him cope, but never fully moved past his brother's passing. Therefore, the death of Allie affects Holden’s depressive behavior, his transition between childhood and adulthood, and finally, his realization of growing up is essential in life. Allie has an effect on Holden’s actions throughout the book such as choosing to go out into
the city and his thoughts in a certain way. As a result, it affects Holden the most out of his family, because even years after his passing, he still seems to be stuck in a state of grief and depression. Correspondingly, this is feasibly seen through his depressive thoughts and behavior. Holden remembers he “slept in the garage the night he died, and broke all the windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (44). Consequently, he is much more unstable after the death of Allie, and afterwards, he begins to act out in his classes by not finishing assignments or listening to teachers. One of his acts of rebellion is his going out into the city to experience more adult aspects such as sex, drugs, and smoking. It’s like he’s trying to fill a void, but when he drinks he feels like there is a “bullet in his guts," but this is more symbolic for him losing his inner self. This can be seen as quite ironic, because while Holden is trying to grip on childhood, he is doing all these mature aspects of life which causes him to lose his inner, childhood self more. Conversely, he calls most everyone else a phony, but cannot see he is a hypocrite towards his own thoughts and words. Although, as if the help keep some of himself together or perhaps to feel closer to Allie, Holden wears his red hat, because Allie has red hair. It helps Holden to cope and feel more pure; however, he only wears his hat in private. Perhaps, this is because he thinks about Allie more when he's alone or not doing the more adult things in life. On a similar note, often times when Holden is depressed in the city, he will go to former things the Caulfields did as a family when Allie was around to try and gather back some joy from old memories such as the museum or Allie's baseball games, because it was a time when everything was more stable.
Moving forth, Allie easily has an effect on Holden and his family after his death which skews some of their development.
When Holden gets older, he cannot seem to snap out of such a subconscious focus on Allie. Depressingly, Holden has often said, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (117). From this, he means he wants to stop transitioning into adulthood by giving up all together. Holden views this as a good outcome because he thinks no one could fault him for being a phony if he never lived long enough to become one. He also uses words like “that kills me” which can go so far to say that he wants to join Allie in death. Likewise, Holden often used self-degrading words towards himself which is also a symptom of depression. Interestingly, Holden seems to have a focus on Allie or Phoebe even when he faces more adult scenarios such as alcohol and potential sex encounters. From the moment Allie dies, Holden is stuck in a state of focusing on the purity in things which is why people like Jane and Allie seem so nice. Holden also has trouble growing up because he has no male role models in his life due to his lack of a father-son relationship. At the time, it was normal for more wealthy families to send off their boys to some prep school. From there, he never fully connected with any teacher or any older boy of whom he could shadow the healthy behaviors. Perhaps his father sent him away because he did not want to bond to
Holden after Allie’s death in fear of getting overly connected to him to avoid the pain of losing another son like they lost Allie. Emphasized by the timeliness of Allie’s death is the irony that he was the perfect age for fathers to send their sons off to school. Holden also freezes up when Mr. Antolini starts petting Holden on the head; Holden's probably not use to manly affection after Allie passed. His mother also seemed to be affected by the death by being much more observant of her other children. “She wakes up very easily. I mean you don’t have to yell at her or anything. All you have to do, practically, is sit down on a bed” (178). She is trying to protect the offspring she does have, and make sure they are alright but following the rules. However, all this most likely led to psychological issues for Holden, inciting his rebellion towards the social norm such as his multiple failings out of school and lack of real friends. In a way, it is like he is punishing his parents for giving more love to Allie instead of Holden before Allie's death. Therefore, Allie has had a profound impact upon the relationships within the Caulfields' family.
Nevertheless, The Catcher in the Rye shows the theme of growing up is inevitable, but that it is good for children to do so.
Just like the lake in a midway transition, Holden is between childhood and adulthood, and cannot seem to let go of his younger years. This is regularly proven when something goes wrong and he does something more adult in Holden's mind view such as repaying the prostitute. After the events, he often thinks he deserved it or just wanted to end it all. It can be regularly seen when something does not go the way Holden intended, he will often verbally beat himself up about it which shows Holden does not have very good self-esteem at this age. Interestingly, Holden also mentions "I didn't give much of a damn any more if they caught me. I really didn't. I figured if they caught me, they caught me. I almost wished they did, in a way." This can be interpreted to mean perhaps Holden wanted to transition into adulthood, but the grief of Allie's death was holding him back too much. Although at the end of the book, Holden has a realization about adulthood. During the carousel scene with Pheobe, Holden realizes Instead, of trying to catch kids or his own self from going into adulthood, he should allow them to make their own mistakes. He says, “I was sort of afraid…but I didn’t say or do anything…If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (232). Comparatively, it took a while for Holden to come to this realization. Moreover, it also helped
define him as a person and his perspective in life. From a broader standpoint, it is how well people transition, from childhood to adulthood, which determines more of their personality and self-esteem as an adult. While transitioning to adulthood can be scary, it is important to let kids grow up and make their own mistakes so they can learn from them to make better choices in the future. All things considered, it can be seen while Allie was not alive during the book, he made a significant impact on Holden’s thoughts, behavior, and development. Not to mention, Holden wanted to stay in childhood for the longest time, but soon had a realization that every child must eventually mature and grow up into adult which is okay. Although, this was more difficult for Holden after Allie's death, he eventually made it through the threshold of transitioning. It was through multiple rebellions and misgivings that Holden could be at the state when he reached the end of the book which is seen through his slight change in behavior. All in all, without the death of Allie, Holden would not be the same as seen in the book.