Catcher In The Rye Holden's Death Analysis

The death of his brother Allie has had a deleterious effect on Holden’s life. For example, when Holden was walking down the street he would say, “Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him, ‘Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear. Please, Allie.’ And then when I’d reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I’d thank him.” (pg. 198). Holden still has a hard time letting go of his younger brother. He says he doesn’t want to disappear, but in reality he doesn't want to die like his brother did. He begs Allie to not let him vanish from the face of the earth because he is frightened. Another example is when Holden receives …show more content…
When he went to Phoebe’s school, “Somebody’d written “Fuck you” on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them-all cockeyed, naturally-what it meant, and how they’d all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days.” (pg. 201). Even though Holden wants to shield the children away from the harsh reality, he can’t. Sooner or later they will have to know what it means. Later on, he tries to scratch an ‘F you” off the wall, but he realizes it can’t be done. Children cannot be protected forever. Holden states that his passion is to be the catcher in the rye, “ ‘Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.’ ” (pg. 173). He wants to save the innocent lives of children, but he has to realize he can’t save …show more content…
After Holden runs away from Mr. Antolini’s house he thinks, “And the more I thought about it, the more depressed I got. I mean I started thinking maybe I should’ve gone back to his house. Maybe he was only patting my head just for the hell of it.” (pg. 195). Mr. Antolini is one of the few people that has helped Holden since he has left Pencey. Holden is nervous and terrified when he discovers Mr. Antolini petting his head, but he can’t blame him. The man was drunk and he felt sorry for Holden so he was comforting him, but Holden didn't think so. He ran away instead of talking to his English teacher about the situation. During his date with sally Holden tells her, “ ‘C’mon, let’s get outa here,’ I said. ‘You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth.’ Boy, did she hit the ceiling when I said that. I know I shouldn’t’ve said it, and I probably wouldn’t’ve ordinarily, but she was depressing the hell out of me. Usually I never say crude things like that to girls.” (page 133). Sally may have been a pain in the ass, but Holden needed a filter. He let the words slide out of his mouth and he “pushed” her away. Sally was willing to hang out with Holden when he was feeling alone, but he ruined his chance because he could not properly communicate with Sally. After leaving Pencey, “The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving