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  • Essay / Lost In Past Moments - 1175

    Holden Caulfield is a teenager who suffers in life and is isolated by the people around him. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden is unhappy with his life and has no one he is close to. The only person he was close to was his younger brother Allie, who died of leukemia. This caused Holden to change in a negative way. The novel is narrated in the first person by Holden himself. He opens the novel by saying, “The first thing you probably want to know is where I was born and what my bad childhood was like” (Salinger 1). From a psychoanalytic point of view, Holden refers to his unconscious state in Sigmund Freud's theory. The unconscious state “contains disturbing or unacceptable drives, impulses, memories, and ideas” (Nevid 469). Holden holds many memories that may be uncomfortable to share. This is one of the reasons why Holden is falling apart. For Holden Caulfield, loneliness and depression occur constantly. He constantly points out something depressing, no matter the situation. When he leaves his old history teacher, Mr. Spencer, he wishes Holden good luck in his life. Holden thinks, “It seems terrible, when you think about it” (Salinger 16). Another situation that Holden finds depressing is when he meets two nuns. When they leave, he realizes that they won't be able to eat somewhere fancy. “You could say, on the one hand, that they never went to a fancy place for lunch. It made me so sad when I thought about it” (Salinger 114). Holden admits to being sad for them and then realizes that "it wasn't too big of a deal" (Salinger 114). Even though he knows it shouldn't be depressing because it's not important, he refutes it by stating "but it made me sad all the same" (Salinge...... middle of paper ... ...during his childhood An example of a traumatic experience is when he visits the old teacher, Mr. Antolini, and Mrs. Antolini takes Holden in after running away from home Holden is sound asleep and he “has. felt a guy's hand” (Salinger 191). This caused him to run away from Mr. Antolini's house. This may not be the first time Holden has had a traumatic experience. experienced many other similar moments, causing him to repress his thoughts Allie's death constantly suffers from depression throughout the novel and does not like to express his feelings towards others. spoken to a psychoanalyst throughout the novel He ends up missing Holden's need for therapy and companions with whom he is comfortable..