JD Salinger was a literary giant despite his limited body of work and reclusive lifestyle. His seminal novel, The Catcher in the Rye, blazed a new trail for literature in post-World War II America and propelled Salinger to the pinnacle of literary fame. Catcher in the rye is about a young man named Holden Caulfield who is undergoing treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Depression is a common mental disorder that manifests itself as depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt, or low self-esteem. This mental illness affects adolescents more than adults. Studies show that 20% of adolescents will suffer from depression before reaching adulthood. When people suffer from depression, they often have difficulty living a normal life. The "Catcher in the Rye" written by JD Salinger tells about the main character Holden Caulfield, a hostile and negative person who suffers from severe depression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Today, teenagers like Holden who have thought about suicide don't want to die. They just want to escape from the daily problems of their lives and at that moment, feeling like they were dying was the only way out. Holden tends to lie to himself to alleviate the guilt and emptiness he lives with, Holden even says that he "really wanted to kill himself". Even though we didn't have proof that Holden was depressed because of his lies and suicidal thoughts, we still have everyone's profound statement. What other way to prove that Holden Caulfield is depressed than Holden himself by announcing that life itself "makes him depressed." Almost every page of the novel is based on Holden telling us that he is depressed. Either Holden was reminding someone to say please and Holden commented "that's depressing", or Holden was warning us to never sleep in Grand Central, because "it will depress you", it's obvious that Holden suffers from mental illness. Throughout Catcher in the Rye, Holden's actions and behavior are consistent with a psychological disorder. However, many of the symptoms of these disorders overlap and if one of them is diagnosed, it is highly likely that Holden has another disorder similar to that. For example, many patients who are diagnosed with PTSD normally also need to be treated for depression. Most mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, depression, or PTSD are usually the body's response to stress or trauma. For Holden's diagnoses, we found instances in Holden's behavior that suggested the possibility of mental illness and linked them to the symptoms of each illness. Loneliness and alienation are two very important themes in JD Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye." In this essay, I will discuss these themes and how they impacted the life of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield. I will examine how Holden uses alienation to protect himself from emotional attachment to others and how death plays a key role in his feelings of loneliness. The theme of loneliness and alienation is very important. Holden is too afraid to open his heart to anyone for fear of losing him, but he also suffers from extreme loneliness at the same time. The death of his brother impacted Holden's emotional state and mental well-being and without the support of an appropriate authority figure, he never learned to deal with his grief, leaving him caught in a vicious cycle where he desperately wants to be loved, but is far too afraid. allowfor this to happen, thereby alienating himself from the rest of the world. Depression usually follows loneliness, it's the stage where you feel completely isolated and don't want to let anyone in. You can't think and it's almost like you can do whatever you want in your life because it doesn't matter anymore. There are seven stages of grief through the process of life and return. These stages are denial, depression, anger, bargaining, guilt, reconstruction and finally acceptance. Different stages of grief are depicted through the main character Holden Caulfield in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. Three stages of the stages of grief stand out the most and are focused on as Holden goes through the process of eventually accepting his loss. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the character Holden Caulfield goes through the many stages of grief, such as anger, denial, and depression, after the death of his brother Allie. During that night, Holden expresses his anger. and denial by breaking all the windows and not admitting why he did it. Following the loss of his brother Allie, Holden expresses his anger and denial physically and mentally. Holden's anger was expressed through his actions of physically smashing the garage windows with his fist, and his stage of denial was represented by him not admitting why he did it. According to Sarah Cifelli, Holden's denial of his brother's death led him to act out in the garage, and when asked why he did it, Holden does not admit or take credit for this. which he did. “His inability to accept the loss of his brother becomes clearer. The action of breaking an entire garage full of windows raises questions, but the main point is that he did not admit the reason for breaking them. Holden Caulfield's relationship with his emotions. On the other hand, he is overwhelmed by the pain his emotions can cause, but on the other hand, when he tries to silence those emotions, he feels numb, which can be just as devastating for him. Loneliness is something that recurs throughout the novel, and in a way, Holden's loneliness is a manifestation of the alienation he feels from the people around him. Throughout the catcher's journey through the rye, Holden is separated from those around him and is constantly searching for a way to fit into a world where he feels he belongs in Hogg. Much of the novel focuses on Holden's continued quest for some form of companionship. This causes him to move from one meaningless relationship to another, which only increases his loneliness. Holden uses this alienation from the world around him as a defense mechanism to protect himself. He finds interacting with other people confusing and overwhelming, so by distancing himself from others he doesn't have to deal with it. Much of Holden's loneliness and alienation can be traced back to the death of his younger brother Allie. Holden was devastated by the tragedy, which has already occurred by the time we are introduced to Holden. He has essentially shut down and repeatedly mentions how important it is for him to not get too attached to people. A good example of this would be when Holden says, "Never tell anyone if you do, everyone starts to miss you." This highlights the fact that Holden is not comfortable opening up to anyone because he is afraid of making a connection and then losing that person. This goes a long way to explaining why Holden seems to almost sabotage any relationship he starts to form. He is afraid of losing another person close to him, this fear has such a slight hold on Holden that he continues to fall into a deep depression and aloneliness to the point that at the end of the novel, he is even afraid to talk to anyone. The entire novel can be seen as a single flashback. Holden constantly thinks about past events and many of his memories include Allie. On page 38, Holden describes Allie's characteristics, emphasizing how intelligent, kind, and gentle he was, and it is evident in the way Holden talks about Allie that he was extremely close to his redheaded brother. Holden generally criticizes and notices people's faults; with Allie, there were only compliments. Life and death have a huge impact on Holden's emotional state and we already know that most of his behavior is a reaction to Allie's death and the fact that his absent parents were not there to guide him through his grief. Holden struggles to accept the fact that Allie died too soon at such a young age and that she didn't choose to do so. However, when James Castle jumps out of the school window and dies, Holden begins to consider the possibility of suicide as a way to end the constant emotional pain. It's only a passing thought and although he may see a romantic ideal when he contemplates suicide, he is so affected by Allie's death that he actually thinks that death might be worse than death. live with pain. One of the things that really bothers Holden about James Castle's death is the idea of ​​him lying on the stone in a pool of blood with no one picking him up as if even in death no one will pick him up. I loved. It's a thought that terrifies Holden and ultimately prevents him from truly considering suicide as an option. His brother's death would be a major catalyst. Her brother died very young, from the novel we can say that Holden seemed to have been close to Allie, and the way Allie died it was a traumatic death (leukemia while they were away for He was in Maine, so what could have been happy times turned tragic for him), at least for a 13 year old. His parents seem quite disinterested in him (he describes them as "busy" before he was born), they don't let him grieve for his brother properly, they just drag him from school to school without realizing that he may have a real problem. Even as he tells the story, he is in a hospital in California. They sent him across the country, which seems to be another way to keep him at bay. They seem to consider him a failure. He obviously has self-esteem issues, he considers himself the only idiot in the family. He does not hesitate to criticize Stradlater for his beauty. He's an underachiever. He talks about suicide several times. He thinks it would be a good life to live in the woods and not have to deal with other people. He is obsessed with Jane, a girl who never really showed him affection in return. It's a good way for him to avoid intimacy. Holden says he is often "depressed" in the book, sometimes for no real reason. Holden really tries to be happy by always calling on people to do something, but ultimately he's just a loner. Isolating himself from everything made him sad and depressed. No one can be happy without other people in their life and Holden has pushed people away like calling Jane and hanging up saying he doesn't want to. Holden won't let anyone get close for fear of getting hurt, such as feeling his sister become affectionate when she puts her hands around him. Holden's vocabulary is also a clue to his disturbed emotional state - although it seems to reflect the influence of the films or his attempts to imitate the diction of his older brother, DB. At least fifty times something or someone gets him down – an emotion he often equates to a feeling.