The Mental State of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye Essay Example

Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and the narrator of the bildungsroman ‘’The Catcher in the Rye’’, is a 16 year old boy who has been dismissed from Pencey for failing academically. Holden finds the hypocrisy of the world around him unbearable. He is uneasy with his own weaknesses, and sometimes shows more phoniness and nastiness than anyone else around him. He finds himself on a cliff separating childhood and adulthood. He cannot successfully negotiate the chasm, which leaves him on the verge of emotional collapse. Many readers are able to relate to Holden and his character. His dissatisfaction of those around him and his striking way of showing it makes him an easy character for people to identify with. There are two previous events that he has suffered previously that could have lead to his current emotional state. The death of his brother, Allie, and a suicide of on of his schoolmates. But these two events cannot be a reason for that complex an emotional state. 

This story takes the reader on a journey through the mind of Holden. This allows us to have a deeper insight into his feelings and emotions. His journey in the novel is essential for him to discover his true identity ¬¬¬and to learn to accept his society around him as well as himself. The line ‘’About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody’’ at the end of the book shows that his journey was successful. He is able to become somewhat mature closer to the end, but he still manages to retain some aspects of his childhood, which was his ultimate goal. Unlike most children, Holden doesn’t go through teenage/adolescent development, he wants to avoid becoming an adult, because to him, they are ‘’phony’’. The carousel towards the end of the book symbolizes his childhood. It keeps going and going in circles, this is relevant to Holdens childhood because he is afraid of growing up. He discovered that he wants to become the ‘’catcher in the rye’’, and to stop children from reaching adulthood. But, although he discovered his passion, the idea was ultimately worthless and wholly irrational. He then has a moment of realisation that he is unable to become the ‘’catcher in the rye, which essentially proves his failure. 

Apart from the reader, Holden is also telling this story to a therapist or psychoanalyst. He is living in a hospital trying to improve his mental state. This scene is at the end of the book, meaning we can never know if his mental state will improve. Although we can presume that after a visit to a sick home would make him more like an adult, the state of mind that he is in now would make that unlikely. He says that he really doesn’t know if he will go back to school, as he isn’t there now. This moment shows that he isn’t really willing to try, which won’t get you anywhere in life.