Holden Caulfield's 'Phd In Catcher In The Rye'
The Catcher In The Rye Essay, PTHD 10/31/2016 Mickell Mangel Welty P.2
The Catcher in the Rye consists of many events in regards to the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, not accepting the unconditional love given to him by a series of characters throughout the novel. For the information the book provides, Holden is a sensitive teenager that has many psychological and social problems. Could he have PTSD? Sure he can, although if that were the case, his PTSD would-of only been worse as the reader digs deeper into the material. There were many events that gave us evidence to conclude that Holden could have had PTSD. At the end he takes those baby steps into adulthood and gets help from a mental institution when he finally had …show more content…
his final breakdown. If anything THAT IS enough evidence to conclude that he most definitely had PTSD. There are a few factors that gave him and worsen his PTSD such as: family, school, “phonies”, and most importantly the death of two people.
Holden’s little brother Allie died of cancer and this seemed to of effected Holden very deeply. This is obviously one of Holden’s reasons as to why he had PTSD. Although Holden is occupied with Allies death, he is further concerned with handling the “phonies.’’ As a kid, Holden had remembered seeing his brother D.B. leave for the war doing almost nothing but lie on his bed. Holden could never handle being called up to war, he said: “I’d rather be executed than to go to war” (p.140). At the start and end of the book, Holden mentioned contacts with his brother, but shows no hatred for him. D.B. could be a small reason to his PTSD, but does not seem to be the center of it.
Holden witnessed one of his class mates, James Castle, fall out the window to his death. Shortly after he saw James Castle's dead body, bloody and broken, wearing his borrowed sweater at Elkton Hills. He saw one of his teachers carry James’ body out of the scene while the killers get off with a mere expulsion. That's the most traumatic event, aside from his brothers’ death Holden mentions throughout the material.
When examining Holden further, he is easily painted as a sensitive kid in boarding school — perhaps he was new to boarding schools — being pushed around by classmates. James Castle, a class mate, was so subdued that the teacher rarely called on him and he hardly talked to anyone (p. 171). The bullies killed James, but no one, aside one teacher even wanted to get near his body and the killers remained free (p. 170). The impression that Holden could have been struck with: "I might-of ended up like that, if situations were just a bit different, or when things got bad enough for me here." His sense of security in the "nice" school society could have disappeared.
Mr. Antolini got involved with Holden’s progress, especially after the death of James Castle (p. 170, 180), but the remainder of the school did not. Holden changed schools twice but didn't keep up with his grades (p. 4, 13), which could have added a lot of stress involving situations at home. Holden had no objection to Mr. Spencer's characterizing his problems at the Whooton school as similar to his problems at Pencey. Since the authorities in charge did not consider the bullies as killers, Holden also doubted their authorities. The Elkton Hills headmaster, was a giant phony (p. 13-14).
Holden came to question almost everyone's integrity and trustworthiness.
With an open mind, imagine that a group of classmate bullies could cause someone to fall to their death, still almost no one but a teacher would want to get any-where near the victim. Imagine; the bullies would only get expelled for being poor performers, instead of going to jail like killers (p. 170). Holden’s PTHD worsens as the novel progresses mainly because he does not feel like he is accepted into society. He goes from one person to the next. Not to mention his trust issues, they cause him to shut people out making him think that he does not have unconditional love when he had it the whole time. A student advisor named Luce speaks sexually and inappropriately to impress younger boys and tries to separate everyone so nobody can follow up with any informal remarks (p. 143, 147). A lot of the people around Holden toil with his trust
issues. In conclusion, Holden has SEVERE PTHD. The things he had been through would give anyone PTHD if they had the same high expectations as Holden did. Events involving home, school, “phonies’’, and the death of two people would most likely tear anyone apart.
The Catcher in the Rye consists of many events in regards to the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, not accepting the unconditional love given to him by a series of characters throughout the novel. For the information the book provides, Holden is a sensitive teenager that has many psychological and social problems. Could he have PTSD? Sure he can, although if that were the case, his PTSD would-of only been worse as the reader digs deeper into the material. There were many events that gave us evidence to conclude that Holden could have had PTSD. At the end he takes those baby steps into adulthood and gets help from a mental institution when he finally had …show more content…
his final breakdown. If anything THAT IS enough evidence to conclude that he most definitely had PTSD. There are a few factors that gave him and worsen his PTSD such as: family, school, “phonies”, and most importantly the death of two people.
Holden’s little brother Allie died of cancer and this seemed to of effected Holden very deeply. This is obviously one of Holden’s reasons as to why he had PTSD. Although Holden is occupied with Allies death, he is further concerned with handling the “phonies.’’ As a kid, Holden had remembered seeing his brother D.B. leave for the war doing almost nothing but lie on his bed. Holden could never handle being called up to war, he said: “I’d rather be executed than to go to war” (p.140). At the start and end of the book, Holden mentioned contacts with his brother, but shows no hatred for him. D.B. could be a small reason to his PTSD, but does not seem to be the center of it.
Holden witnessed one of his class mates, James Castle, fall out the window to his death. Shortly after he saw James Castle's dead body, bloody and broken, wearing his borrowed sweater at Elkton Hills. He saw one of his teachers carry James’ body out of the scene while the killers get off with a mere expulsion. That's the most traumatic event, aside from his brothers’ death Holden mentions throughout the material.
When examining Holden further, he is easily painted as a sensitive kid in boarding school — perhaps he was new to boarding schools — being pushed around by classmates. James Castle, a class mate, was so subdued that the teacher rarely called on him and he hardly talked to anyone (p. 171). The bullies killed James, but no one, aside one teacher even wanted to get near his body and the killers remained free (p. 170). The impression that Holden could have been struck with: "I might-of ended up like that, if situations were just a bit different, or when things got bad enough for me here." His sense of security in the "nice" school society could have disappeared.
Mr. Antolini got involved with Holden’s progress, especially after the death of James Castle (p. 170, 180), but the remainder of the school did not. Holden changed schools twice but didn't keep up with his grades (p. 4, 13), which could have added a lot of stress involving situations at home. Holden had no objection to Mr. Spencer's characterizing his problems at the Whooton school as similar to his problems at Pencey. Since the authorities in charge did not consider the bullies as killers, Holden also doubted their authorities. The Elkton Hills headmaster, was a giant phony (p. 13-14).
Holden came to question almost everyone's integrity and trustworthiness.
With an open mind, imagine that a group of classmate bullies could cause someone to fall to their death, still almost no one but a teacher would want to get any-where near the victim. Imagine; the bullies would only get expelled for being poor performers, instead of going to jail like killers (p. 170). Holden’s PTHD worsens as the novel progresses mainly because he does not feel like he is accepted into society. He goes from one person to the next. Not to mention his trust issues, they cause him to shut people out making him think that he does not have unconditional love when he had it the whole time. A student advisor named Luce speaks sexually and inappropriately to impress younger boys and tries to separate everyone so nobody can follow up with any informal remarks (p. 143, 147). A lot of the people around Holden toil with his trust
issues. In conclusion, Holden has SEVERE PTHD. The things he had been through would give anyone PTHD if they had the same high expectations as Holden did. Events involving home, school, “phonies’’, and the death of two people would most likely tear anyone apart.