Free Essays - Troubled Holden in Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

Troubled Holden in Catcher in the Rye In J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is portrayed as a young, troubled individual. He tells us his story from the mental institution where he is currently residing. Holden refuses to acknowledge his emotions in regard to the death of his brother Allie. In reaction to Allie's death, Holden hides from himself, his true feelings about change, death and relationships with other people. He does not realize that his Allie died of leukemia three years before this story takes place. Holden speaks highly of his brother. He discusses how Allie was younger than him but fifty times as smart. Holden also tells us that Allie was much more mature for his age then he should have been. This is the basis of Holden's fear of growth and change. The more you grow, the closer to death you find yourself and death is the ultimate change. Reveling in innocence, perfectness, and being untouched by change is the most comfortable pattern of living for Holden: "In chapter 5 when Holden is waiting for Ackley to get ready to go to town, he looks out of the window of his room, opens it, and packs a snowball from the snow on the window ledge. He begins to throw it at a parked car, but doesn't because the car "looked so nice and white". Then he aims at a fire hydrant, but stops again because that also looks "too nice and white". Finally he decides not to throw it at anything and closes the window...What Holden sees through the window is for him a visual embodiment of what he unconsciously seeks: a state of Being which is distinct from the flux of this world of Becoming, with its corruption, violence, noise, decay and death." (Burrows 84) When Holden talks to us about how much he loves the museum, he says that the museum is great because everything just stays behind a piece of glass and does not change. Some things should not change. He is really saying that he doesn't want to change the way Allie changed. Also, he says