Examples Of Depression In Catcher In The Rye

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Depression is a well-known mental illness currently affecting millions in the US. Although most people have knowledge of it, it is usually difficult to tell if a certain person is depressed. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher In The Rye, a teenager named Holden is expelled from his high school, Pencey Prep. He decides to stay in New York for a few nights instead of returning home, to let his parents’ anger subside. He makes progressively worse decisions throughout the novel, and it ends with his nervous breakdown. Some may be surprised by the book’s ending, as Salinger cleverly inserts certain symptoms of depression while seemingly maintaining Holden’s personality. A symptom that Salinger includes to show that Holden is depressed is a feeling of a slow passage of time. An example of this would be when Holden decides to leave his past teacher’s. who is called Mr.Antolini, house after he wakes up to him patting his head. “I never waited so long for an elevator in my whole goddam life. I swear.” (193) A slow passage of time is considered a common symptom in many depressions. Throughout the book, Holden often over exaggerates the time and if you haven’t studied depression, this could seem like a personality…show more content…
Holden seems to get himself into some situations he could have avoided if he had kept calm. In one part of the novel, Holden tries to punch Stradlater, his roommate, after they argue about him and his date. “All I know is I got up from the bed, like I was going to the bathroom or something, then I tried to sock him” (43) After he attempts to punch him, Holden even wonders why he did it. He says that he considers himself a pacifist, and even tried to punch him with his hand that he had injured previously. This can be viewed as a break from his normal behavior into an aggressive one. Although Holden has reasons for punching Stradlater, his reflection on his action helps attribute his action to

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