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Holden's Ideal

 

            Depression can have serious psychological repercussions. Such is demonstrated in the character of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. While residing in a mental hospital in California, Holden explains the events that led to his downfall. Within his story, all the reasons for his extreme unhappiness are revealed. Holden's severe depression is made apparent through his inward emotional turmoil, phoniness, and his idealistic fantasies.
             Holden's life is tormented by his constant search for the ideal. There have only been two people who have ever embodied Holden's model of perfection: Allie, his younger brother, and Jane, who used to be his next door neighbor. Allie is introduced as the nicest member of Holden's family. He was a little red head whom "[we"d] have liked" (Salinger 38), who tragically died of leukemia in 1946. Holden is constantly reflecting on his relationship with Allie. In some instances it is as if Holden is living in the past. When asked what he likes by his younger sister, Phoebe, he replies, "I like Allie" (171). She is quick to respond with, "Allie's dead and in Heaven" (171). Holden seems to have trouble comprehending this fact, possibly because he never received closure. After Allie's death, Holden "broke all the goddam windows with [his] fist" (39), and was in the hospital during the funeral. Therefore the absence of the "ideal of sensibility and response determines Holden's resistance to the world as it is" (Rowe 81). Without the opportunity to grieve Allie's death, Holden often judges every other human being compared to him. .
             Another person Holden holds in high esteem is Jane. He likes the fact that "Jane [is] different. [They"d] get into a movie or something, and right away [they"d] start holding hands, and [they] wouldn't quit till the movie was over. And without changing position or making a big deal out of it" (79). When with Jane, Holden feels as though there is no pressure to be anything that society wants him to be.


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