The Complexity of Holden CaulfieldJ.D Salinger writes from personal experience in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye. The American author lived in New York and attended a Manhattan public school for most of his adolescence before attending a boarding school which he soon left. He also suffered a nervous breakdown while serving in the army. His experiences played a major role not only in the plot of his novel, but also in the construction of the character of Holden Caulfield. As the male protagonist of this coming-of-age novel, Holden Caulfield was faced with several obstacles to overcome. During his journey, he faces stress, anxiety, and difficult decisions as he is exposed to prostitutes, thieves, financial difficulties, and other alien aspects of this unknown reality. During this journey, he contradicts himself by attempting to protect the innocence of the youth around him while demonstrating his relentless determination to reach adulthood prematurely. In this situation, his desires lead him to mental instability from an already questionable mental state. In The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger explores the complexity of mental illness through the male protagonist, Holden Caulfield, during his impossible mission to preserve the innocence of others. Throughout the novel, Holden Caulfield deals with a complex variety of emotions that lead to a mental breakdown. At the beginning of the novel, he presents his story as a series of past events. "I'm just going to tell you about this crazy stuff that happened to me last Christmas, right before I got pretty run down and had to come here and take it easy." (Salinger, p. 1). At the end of the novel, the reader can assume that he is revisiting the events of a psychiatric institute...... middle of paper ......Web. March 22, 2014. Baumbach, J. “The Saint as Young Man: A Reassessment of the Catcher in the Rye.” Salem Press, and Web. March 10, 2014.Edwards, Duane. “Holden Caulfield.” Major literary characters: Holden Caulfield. Bloom, Harold. Boston: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. P. 105-113. Print. Miltner, Robert. “Catching Holden Through the Lens of Cultural Studies.” Critical Insights: The Rye Catcher. Ed. Dewey Joseph. 1 vol. Salem Press, 2011. Salem Literature Web. Salinger, J.D. The Rye Catcher. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print. Schmitz, Lindsay. “Salinger, J.D. (1919-2010).” American countercultures. Online reference Sharpe (2014): n. page. Web.Trowbridge, Clinton W. "The Symbolic Structure of the Catcher in Rye". The Sewanee Review, Vol. 74, no. 3. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966. Pp. 681-693. Print.