Theme Of Mental Illness In Catcher In The Rye

Holden’s Struggle with Mental Illness J.D. Salinger is the author of the controversial novel The Catcher in the Rye. The story depicts the short span of Holden Caulfield’s few days in winter after being kicked out of Pencey Prep, a prestigious school Holden was attending. His journey is off to a rough start after Holden still has not completely accepted the death of his younger brother, so he tries forming new relationships with people and rekindle old friendships. After numerous failures, Holden comes to a revelation of who he truly wants to be by wanting to be a protector for young kids to keep them innocent while they still can be. At a young age, Holden went through many struggles which would ultimately cause him to have to grow up fast. As a result, because of the loss of Holden’s innocence he suffers from PTSD, depression and stress. Throughout Holden’s journey, he is shown to be often very cynical and judgemental of other people …show more content…
Along his travels, he goes through many trials and tribulations, but eventually Holden powers through from the help of his sister Phoebe. Holden even manages to find his true calling, as he sees himself as the catcher in the rye, protecting children and keeping them safe for as long as they are young. It is implied that Holden has dealt with many troubles in his childhood, and that is the cause of his loss of innocence, and so is the death of his brother. All these worries pile up and stress him out, causing him to display his emotions this way, like when he lashed out at Sally during their car ride home. Holden has many different sides to him, like the facets of a gem. As mentioned before though, Holden overcomes his shortcomings and decides to stay with the help of Phoebe. All in all, Holden has many layers and has been shown to have many mental illnesses that play a role in his mannerisms and