In the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield has a mental illness that makes it challenging for him to face reality. There are various cases in which Holden faces parts of his depression which causes him to view life differently than others. A few instances where Holden is not facing reality are when he punches the window after Allie’s death, not thinking before acting and flunking out of three schools. Holden makes numerous mistakes because of his mental illness, forcing him to behave unusually and not face the truth.
The death of Holden’s beloved brother Allie makes it difficult for Holden to maintain a standard teenage life. At 13 years old, Holden's brother passed away from leukemia. Allie was a meaningful part of Holden’s life. Since Allie was so vital to Holden, he acted out constantly, which caused him to have trouble with his emotions. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the 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” (Salinger 39). Holden became remarkably delicate after Allie's death. He certainly did not recognize that he was making his mental illness more critical by demolishing the windows. Holden broke his hand and went to the hospital during Allie’s funeral. Holden did not realize that holding in his emotions could have made Allie’s death less distressing.
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Due to Holden’s view on reality, he has no interest in his future and flunks out of three separate schools. As a high school student, Holden should be held accountable for his schoolwork. Holden becomes very depressed after Allie dies which affects his grades. He shows less concern for his schoolwork and his future because of this event. When Holden flunks out of Pency Prep, he leaves the last football game of the year because he wants to say goodbye to his favorite history teacher, Mr.Spencer. Mr. Spencer decides to give Holden a sense of what his future will be if he doesn’t improve his academics. “Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?”. Holden responds with the following: “Oh I feel some concern for my future all right. Sure. Sure, I do. I thought about it for a minute. But not too much I guess” (Salinger 14). Holden's future will be disastrous if he continues to get poor grades. Allie’s death had a tremendous effect on Holden’s mental illness. Although Allie’s death was tragic, Holden should have faced reality and realized that everything would get worse if he flunked out of school.
During Holden’s date with Sally Hayes, he doesn’t face reality and gets ahead of himself because he wants to leave the city. Holden does not fancy city life because it makes him depressed. Therefore, Holden attempts to come up with a fabulous plan to withdraw from the city and asks Sally if she wants to accompany him on his adventure. Holden explains to Sally how they could get married and live together in Massachusetts or Vermont. “We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that until the dough runs out. Then, when the dough runs out I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook and all and, later on, we could get married or something” (Salinger 132). Holden appears as if he is in a tremendous hurry to get away from the city and does not admit that the outcome of his plan could be severe. If Holden is incapable of earning money, then they would not be able to afford vital supplies such as food and water. Holden wants to break out of city life because he dislikes taxicabs, phonies, elevators, Madison Avenue Buses, and drivers yelling at him. The reality is that Holden has to grow past the things he loathes about New York City and move on. Holden does not think about the problems that will arise if his plan does not work. Holden’s depression takes over his decision-making and his view on life. Due to Holden’s depression, he cannot envision the consequences of his actions.
In the book, Salinger makes it apparent that Holden’s depression makes it difficult for him to have a typical life and face reality. There are numerous events in which Holden has difficulty with these skills. Salinger also formulates Holden to be a sensitive boy. Due to Holden’s depression, he cannot deal with the disappointment and challenges of adult life. Although Holden is depressed throughout the book, could he have tried harder to deal with his emotions? Perhaps if Allie did not die, Holden could have maintained his emotions.
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