Patient Holden Caulfield demonstrates signs of depression brought out by Allie and drinking, isolation brought out by phonies and lack of social skills, and lying tendencies brought out by his determination to protect his reputation and the innocence of children. The death of Allie promotes Holden’s depressive states, while his drinking behaviors attempt to cover it up but make it worse. Also, Holden’s isolation is enhanced by his hatred towards people who are phonies in society and his lack of communication skills.
Lastly, lying is induced by the need o enhance his self esteem and make him look good, as well as his determination to protect children from losing their innocence. By Holden experiencing depression, isolation and lying tendencies, his past has provoked these conditions. Holden’s past has influenced a lot of pain and has taken a toll on him mentally. His depression is mainly because of the death of his brother Allie that leaves him feeling like disappearing. Holden says, “every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddamn curb, I had this feeling that l’d never get to the other side of the street.
I thought l’d just go down, down, down, and nobody’d ever see me again [… ] Allie don’t let me disappear” (Salinger 197-198). By Holden expressing his thoughts about disappearing and the feeling of not getting across the street, leads me to believe that Holden’s depression has led to suicidal thoughts. Holden also seems to lean on his deceased brother Allie in his times of distress. He has not yet accepted the fact that his brother has passed away and he is suffering from Allie’s absence. Holden reaches out to Allie because he feels like he cannot escape from his depression and he is searching for help.
He is scared of being left alone in life, but Allie is keeping him grounded and keeps him on the right path. Holden’s misery is not only brought on by the loss of his brother Allie, but Holden uses drinking as a coping mechanism for the pain. Holden has been getting drunk very often and he does so to alleviate the pain that he is feeling about himself which is brought on by depression. On one particular night, Holden explains: “boy, I sat at that goddamn bar till around one o’clock or so, getting drunk as a bastard [… ] I was concealing the fact that I was a wounded sonovabitch” (150).
In this situation, Holden is addressing the fact that he does not want anyone to see him upset or depressed. By calling himself a “wounded sonovabitch,” Holden is stating that his depression is his wound which makes him selfish by drinking away his pain. He has not asked anyone for help because he is afraid of judgment. His lack of hope for his future is hidden by drinking as well and it is lowering his self esteem. Not only does drinking help conceal Holden’s depression, but this has led to himself being isolated from the world and being scared of who he could become in the future.
Holden Caulfield demonstrates signs of isolationism. Holden struggles communicating and connecting with society around him. Holden feels that the world is full of phonies and is determined not to become a phony adult. The two things that promote Holden’s isolation are phonies and communication in society. He wants to isolate himself from society, by imagining a world without associating with others. Holden explains how he wishes he was confined from the world: “just so people didn’t know me and I didn’t know anybody. I thought what Il’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
That way I wouldn’t have to have any goddamn stupid useless conversations with anybody” (198). Holden feels that if he moves away and pretends to be deaf and nonverbal he will be separated from society and all of his problems will go away. Holden has no desire anymore to have a connection and decides he should just disappear in his own little world. Also, Holden has few personal connections with other people contributing to this isolation. By analyzing Holden, I have concluded that throughout his story, he was reaching out to people, but he could never go through with it.
Holden says,”the first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz [.. ] I couldn’t think of anybody to call up” (59). This is just another example that shows how concealed Holden is from society. Holden lacks the communication skills needed to feel comfortable talking about his problems or just having a normal conversation. Holden’s lack of communication skills due to isolationism contributes to his extreme lying capabilities. Holden Caulfield suffers from extreme lying and manipulation of his life’s story.
He has shown signs of lying in situations when he is protecting his reputation and the innocence of children. While on the train, Holden runs into Mrs. Morrow, Ernie’s mother. Holden tries to protect his reputation when he lies about his name: “Rudolf Schmidt, I told her. I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life history” (54-55). Holden lied about his name so he did not have to share his depressing story. He did not want to talk about the death of Allie, failing out of multiple schools, and getting kicked out of Pencey. Holden took this opportunity to make himself look good in the eyes of a stranger.
Also, lying about his name prevented the news of his expulsion to be spread to his parents. So, in his parents eyes, he is still learning and living at Pencey. Holden also uses lying to protect the innocence of young children. While talking to Phoebe, Holden has a hard time admitting that he was kicked out of school. Holden says, “Who said I got kicked out? Nobody said–” (165). By Holden lying about not being kicked out of Pencey, it shows that he wants his younger sister to be able to look up to him. He is also trying to limit her exposure to the problems in his life.
By doing so, Holden believes that he is protecting her youth and allowing her to grow up facing one less problem and worrying about something that she has no control over. Patient Holden Caulfield demonstrates signs of depression brought out by the death of Allie and drinking, isolation brought out by his hatred towards phonies and lack of social skills, and lying tendencies brought out by his determination to protect his reputation and the innocence of children. Holden’s depression brought on by Allie and drinking have persuaded him into feeling like disappearing and have owered his self esteem dramatically.
His isolation towards society and hatred towards phonies has impacted Holden on a severe level. His isolation has been brought out because of his inability and unwillingness to converse with others and his animosity towards phonies and him not wanting to become one. Lying is brought out in Holden by wanting to save the innocence in children and manipulating his reputation in persuading himself to look good. Until Holden has been relieved of his conditions, he will continue to struggle with depression, isolation and lying tendencies.
