Catcher In The Rye Instability

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Catcher In The Rye is a darker book, but I’m sure many people can relate to the main character Holden. Not long after you start reading the book you can tell how unstable his life and emotions are. Nearly every aspect of his life has something going wrong. But, that is something we all go through from time to time and can relate to. We might even deal with it in the same manner that he does even though we know it is unhealthy. I feel that the book explores instability in people’s lives, but particularly in the perspective of teenagers or young adults. The first example of the instability in his life starts with school. He moved from Whooton School to Elkton Hills to Pencey Prep which is now the school he’s flunking out of. It’s not explained …show more content…
He lacks the act of self control. One example is when his younger brother Allie had died and how he reacted to it. Normally when people are going through traumatic experiences, they go have a conversation about it or seek comfort from family and friends. He did the exact opposite of that. “ I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it.”(pg. 21). He was only 13 at the time that this happened and he only gets worse from here. Furthermore, it becomes increasingly evident that he has depression. Shockingly, he even admitted in the book that he has it and typically people aren’t willing to do that. He says things like, “And that business about getting up early to see the first show at Radio City Music Hall depressed me”(pg 41) or, “I wasn't sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead” (pg. 49). His depression prohibits him from enjoying anything and it’s highly likely that this leads to the many other problems he continues to …show more content…
He has lied several times about his identity when he meets new people. When he had met one of his classmates’ mother, he gave her a fake name and lied to her about how he felt about her son. When he hired the prostitute named Sunny he lied about his name as well. He constantly lied about his status in school and never told people he got kicked out. Then, he lies about his age to be able to buy drinks at the bar and uses the fact that he has gray hair to his advantage. I feel that he lies to himself the most out of everyone else. He thought that going to New York after he got kicked out would help him avoid his parents while he knew that wasn’t true. He thinks that he’s a perfect angel in the book and everyone else is “phony” even when he knows that’s far from the

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