Examples Of Holden's Breakdown In Catcher In The Rye

The story Catcher in the Rye begins with the main character, Holden Caulfield, giving us a brief description of himself and about this so called "madman" stuff. He also talks about how he hates phonies and fake people. Throughout the book Holden gives many examples of what makes him unhappy and depressed. He doesn't really seem to like anything. His sister, Phoebe, even confronts Holden and tells him that it really seems that he doesn't like anything. " "You don't like anything that's happening." It made me even more depressed when she said that." ( Salinger 220). Holden got depressed from anything, even just thinking of how old his teacher; Mr. Spencer was, made him depressed. These small events may lead to Holden's ultimate breakdown,
but there are much bigger problems in Catcher in Rye that Holden has to face with that leads him to his breakdown. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden gives a big description on his brother Allie.
Allie was Holden's younger brother; he was very intelligent and loved to write poems on his own baseball glove. Sadly Allie died of leukemia, this one of the first examples. That night though of Allies death, Holden broke all the windows in his garage he even tried to break all the window the families station wagon "My hand still hurts me once in a while, when it rains and all, and I cannot make a real fist any more – not a tight one, I mean – but outside of that I don't care much." (Salinger 50,51). The death of Allie seemed to affect Holden greatly; he can never stop thinking about him and can never let go of his loss. Throughout this book, Holden thinks of, and experiences many sexual moments. The sexual moments that Holden experiences is another example of what leads him to his breakdown. Sex is something that Holden doesn't really understand, " Sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't." (Salinger 82), an example is when Holden returned to the Hotel after the night out and was approached by Maurice, the elevator man, to purchase a prostitute for the night. He thought that getting the prostitute would make him feel better, but it didn't, it made him even more depressed when he saw her. The sexuality that happens in this book really seems to mess with Holden. Another example is when Stradlater went on a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden is depressed the whole time, and
cannot stop thinking of what Stradlater might do to her. He was depressed because when he was younger he had a relationship with her, Jane also was the only person that Holden had ever shown Allie's glove. He was also nervous because Stradlater was one the guys at school who had already had sex. So sex, sexual thoughts and experiences that Holden encountered has lead him to his breakdown.