Mental Struggles of the Main Character in Catcher in the Rye

Some think that life is a straight line. Two points, one point when you are born, and the endpoint is drawn when you pass away. Frankly, life is filled with several twists, turns and plunges. You never know what to expect next. Life is more like a rollercoaster. It’s unpredictable, scary at times, and inconsistent. There are times where you may struggle, but that’s all a part of learning. Being a teenager especially is hard to handle. The struggle of trying to understand who you are. The struggle of finding your way in life. The struggle of finding someone you can trust can be hard at times. But struggles help you learn, advance and mature. In The Catcher in The Rye, J.D. Salinger describes the protagonist Holden Caulfield, as he understands adolescence and grasps the idea of “growing up.” Throughout the book, we are able to catch glimpses of his thoughts and ideas, giving us insight into his mental state as Holden develops. Through his observations on certain people, companionships, and objects, the reader is able to observe how Holden's mental state develops as the novel progresses.

In the novel, J.D. Salinger describes how Holden deals with grief and depression through the reflection of his brother’s baseball mitt. Because Holden’s brother, Allie died of Leukemia at a young age, Holden holds the baseball mitt close to his heart because Allie meant a lot to him. The baseball mitt was the one thing that Holden had, to remember his brother by. It contained “poems written all over [the glove],”(49) which Holden believed to be symbolic of his brother being unique and special from everyone else. This explains why Holden has such a strong connection with Allie, compared to all of his other siblings, because he can relate to Allie the most. During his time at Pencey, one of his roommates, Stradlater, asks Holden to write a composition for him. However, he ignores Stradlaters request and decides to write about his brother Allie. Through his thought process, we are given insight into Holden’s relationship with his younger brother. As Holden continues to write he remembers the times when he and Allie had pleasant experiences. He explains how “[Allie] used to laugh so hard at something he thought of at the dinner table that he [would] just about fall off his chair.”(50) It’s clear that Holden remembers specific times in his life where Allie brought him joy. But after his brother who was his friend, role model, and confidante passed away, he was left alone, lost, and disoriented. The baseball glove is a significant symbol of Holden’s recollection of his times with Allie when they were younger. This object displays Holden’s mental state at the beginning of the book. He was unstable and was no longer able to connect with anyone else in fear of losing another friend. In addition, when Holden begins to write about Allie, “[Holden] happened to have [Allie’s baseball mitt] with [him], in [his] suitcase.”(51) This shows that Holden protects the mitt at all times, and keeps it away from others to make sure that nobody gets a hold of it. The only person who has seen it is Jane Gallinger because she is one of the very little people that Holden respects and admires. While this may not sound like significant, Holden’s relationship with Jane reveals insight into Holden’s mentality. He shows the mitt to Jane because she is the only person that Holden seems to trust. It is possible that Holden trusts Allie not only because she's a love interest, but because she is innocent, pure, and candid like Allie. This can be seen when Holden played checkers with Jane, “she wouldn't take her kings out of the back row,” (101) not because of strategy, but because she thought it was cute. They are both strange and authentic, which appeals to Holden. Essentially, Holden protects Allies baseball glove, to preserve his memories with his deceased brother. Like many, who lose a family member, it is hard to let go of the things that remind you of the past. Like many children, Holden lives in the present and lingers in the past instead of looking forward to the future, proving Holden’s childlike mentality.

As the book progresses, we are clearly able to see that Holden’s child-like mentality reveal itself through his thoughts and wonders about the ducks at Central Park. He is very unaware, curious, and empathetic, like a child. In the beginning of the book, Holden shows interest in the ducks that swim in the Central Park Lagoon. While sitting in a cab, his innocent mind prompts him to ask about the ducks in the pond. He asks his cab driver where he thinks “the [ducks] go during the wintertime.”(107) Holden questions if somebody goes around “in a truck or something to take them away,” or if they flew away “by themselves.” (82) His childlike wonder shows his innocence and his naive mentality. He wonders about the little things nobody notices, like how a baby asks questions about his new surroundings. However, while this may reveal Holden’s childlike mentality, it also reveals that Holden is worried about the safety of the ducks. He worries that the ducks won’t have a place to stay, because, in a way, he connects with the ducks because he is lost in his own world. He wonders where the ducks go, because he is currently lost, and feels like he is neglected and alone. Because he is different from the people around him, and he lives life struggling day by day shooting his shot aimlessly, he doesn’t yet know his purpose in life. He wonders where the ducks go when they’re lost so that he has an answer for what to do when he’s lost.

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Furthermore, Holden’s reaction to insignificant inconveniences, like breaking Phoebe’s record, reveal his childish mentality. While journeying around New York City, Holden decides to buy his litter sister, Phoebe a gift. He goes around Fifth avenue trying to “find a record store that was open.”(149) He looked everywhere because “there was this record [Holden] wanted to get for Phoebe, called 'Little Shirley Beans.”(149) He heard it once playing at Pency and immediately thought about Phoebe when it started playing because the idea and the nature of the song were meant for little children. The song was “about a little kid who wouldn't go out of the house because two of her front teeth were out and she was ashamed to.”(149) The record symbolizes innocence. Holden pays a hefty price of 5 dollars to maintain his youth because he is so afraid of growing up. A few days after buying the record, Holden walked around Central park drunk, and “something terrible happened just as [he] got in the park. [He] dropped old Phoebe's record.”(199) When the record broke, Holden was devastated. The record was something that helped him cope with the idea of maturity, but when the record breaks, he crumbles to pieces because he is no longer able to avoid adulthood. When he got home, Holden “told [Phoebe] about the record.”(212) As he tried to explain, he “took the pieces out of [his] coat pocket and showed her.”(212) Although just a record, Holden views the record as a way to connect himself with the only sibling that he has at home. He hoped that by bringing the record back home, Phoebe would be less angry with him for leaving, and would bring them closer together. When the record breaks, Holden is left helpless. The record displays Holdens attachment to items, much like a child is attached to their belongings.

Lastly, while we follow Holden’s journey from a child to a man, we can see a shift in his beliefs and thoughts. Holdens views towards the carousel reveal how he has matured. When he and his sister go to Central Park and ride the carousel, he remembers the old times, and remembers hearing the song the carousel played when he “was a little kid.”(272) While Phoebe is riding the carousel, she starts reaching for the gold ring. However, instead of helping and protecting his sister, Holden watches from a distance. He says “the thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.”(211) Although Holden was “afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse”(273) he decided not to because he realized that the best way to learn is through experience. After the ride is over, Phoebe urges Holden to ride on with her a second time, but Holden declines her request. The carousel represents innocence, memories, and childhood. The consistency of the carousel shows how Holden doesn’t want things to change. He likes how the “carousel, always plays the same song.” (210) Holden doesn’t want to move on and wants his life to be straightforward and consistent, like a carousel. By declining a ride on the carousel, Holden proves that he is no longer a child, and has grown from the beginning of the book. Holden has grown and realized that kids can’t always be protected and that he can’t always catch kids from falling into adulthood. If Holden keeps protecting Phoebe from everything she’ll have a harder time in the real world. The carousel brings an end to Holden's journey to finding who he is. At the beginning of the book, he was inexperienced, young, and lost. Nevertheless, as the book progresses, Holden begins to learn from his mistakes and live life independently. He starts to find his true self and is no longer just a kid.

As the novel unwinds, Holden is left with heavy weights on his shoulders. He is faced with several hardships and seems to carry them on his back. His grief and misfortunes clawed at his back making each step he takes, heavier. His views on certain objects like Allie’s baseball mitt, the ducks in Central Park, and Phoebe’s record, reveal Holden’s childlike mentality and shows how his attitude at the beginning of the book kept him from moving into adulthood. In the end, Holden watches his little sister Phoebe reach for the golden ring on the carousel, and realizes that the best way for problems to be solved is to let time take its course. He recognizes that he no longer needs to be the “catcher in the rye.”