Why didnt holden commit suicide

The Catcher in the Rye examines the fine line between everyday teenage angst and serious depression or unhappiness. Throughout the novel, Holden refers to himself as a “madman,” calls himself crazy, and frequently declares that he is depressed. At first, these statements seem somewhat trivial, since Holden tends to exaggerate. In addition, his claims about how much he dislikes his life sometimes seem rather undeserved, since he’s actually quite privileged. After all, he comes from a wealthy family, has a loving sister, and has no shortage of opportunity, so it’s sometimes hard to understand what he has to be upset about. As the novel progresses, though, the depths of his discontent become all the more apparent, and his persistent ruminations about death and suicide begin to indicate that he’s dealing with emotions that are more troubling than the average dissatisfaction that most adolescents experience. By scrutinizing the difference between ordinary discontent and true depression, then, Salinger gives an account of the delicate nature of mental health, making it clear that unhappiness exists on a complex, nuanced spectrum, and that it’s possible to be depressed even while leading a seemingly fortunate life.

Right away, Holden gives readers the impression that he’s a cynical teenager who has a bitter overall outlook on life. He begins his story by saying, “If you really want to hear about it,” a phrase that underscores his sarcastic, sneering attitude. With this mentality, he frames the story he’s about to tell as nothing more than a crazy sequence of events, something to be related because it’s entertaining in a morbidly fascinating way. Strangely enough, this trivializes his entire account, allowing him to portray his unhappiness as something casual instead of treating it seriously. Asserting that he’s not going to talk much about his personal history, he decides to narrate “this madman stuff that happened” to him. By calling the content of his story—which readers soon learn is rather depressing—“madman stuff,” Holden admits that what happened to him was rather out of control, but he does so in a hyperbolic way, thereby diminishing its impact. Instead of acknowledging the fact that he is currently telling this story from an unidentified rest home where he’s receiving psychoanalysis (which he reveals at the end of the novel), he begins his tale as if it’s little more than a wild anecdote one might tell a group of friends to make them laugh. In doing so, he presents himself as an average teenager dealing with everyday problems.

One of the first indications that Holden’s internal emotional world is more turbulent than he lets on comes when he tells the story of Allie’s death. Holden was 13 when Allie died, and his response to his brother’s death was quite severe—upon learning that Allie died, he spent the night in the garage, where he punched out all the windows with his bare hand. Of course, it makes sense that he would be beside himself, but this strong reaction is worth noting because it suggests he has trouble dealing with difficult emotions. More importantly, his parents wanted to have him psychoanalyzed in the aftermath of this event, but for some reason they seem to have decided against this. This, in turn, means that Holden has most likely never fully processed the difficult feelings that arose after Allie’s death.

Having never properly dealt with his feelings about Allie’s death, Holden finds himself thinking about his brother in moments of pronounced loneliness. Throughout his three-day solo stint in New York City, he frequently experiences feelings of depression and isolation, and during one of these moments he even speaks out loud to Allie, addressing his deceased younger brother simply to make himself feel less alone. As he does so, it becomes increasingly clear that the nature of his discontent isn’t simply related to the typical teenage angst he experiences, but to something more profound—namely, his unaddressed feelings of grief regarding Allie’s death.

What is perhaps most alarming about Holden’s depression is that it tends to lead him to suicidal thoughts. For instance, shortly after speaking out loud to Allie, he remarks, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide.” Even if he doesn’t follow through with this, the mere fact that his feelings of depression and grief eventually inspire this thought is troubling, especially since he makes multiple comments like this one. Although it’s true that it’s common for teenagers (and, in fact, all people) to feel depressed or upset, not everyone lingers on thoughts of death and suicide the way Holden does. In fact, he even seems to fantasize about suicide, which is a troubling sign because it underlines just how fixated he is on the idea that death might be a way to solve his problems. And yet, he doesn’t attempt suicide in the novel. This creates a sense of ambiguity, inviting readers to consider the nature of Holden’s depression—it’s unclear whether he will someday act on his dark thoughts and actually kill himself. However, it is clear that Holden struggles with both ordinary and more severe forms of unhappiness, since some of his discontent resembles the everyday angst most people experience at some point in their lives, whereas other forms of his unhappiness have to do with his unprocessed grief. By bringing this dynamic to light, Salinger considers the many nuances of depression, ultimately implying that certain kinds of discontent ought to be addressed even if unhappiness is an unavoidable and universal part of life.

Foreshadowing is central to the narrative structure of The Catcher in the Rye. The novel opens with Holden living with his brother D.B. in Los Angeles after having been placed in an unspecified medical facility. He then goes on to recount the events leading up to his hospitalization. As Holden puts it to the reader: “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.” His uses of the word “madman” and the euphemism “run-down” suggest the nature of his breakdown without explaining it in full, but Holden’s narrative allows the reader to speculate about possible reasons for his hospitalization.

The Origin of Holden’s Breakdown

Throughout the novel, Holden frequently states that he feels depressed, and often entertains morbid thoughts. For example, after Maurice punches him in the gut, Holden thinks, “What I really felt like, though, is committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.” Holden’s suicidal thoughts in this scene are echoed later in the novel, when he recalls James Castle, a classmate at a previous prep school who jumped out a window. Holden’s fate seems linked to that of Castle, who happened to be wearing a turtleneck he borrowed from Holden when he died. The reader also deduces that Holden has a history of violent outbursts. For instance, Holden explains that his parents planned to have him “psychoanalyzed” after he “broke all the windows in the garage” following his brother Allie’s death. The reader also witnesses Holden’s violence directly when he attacks Stradlater, trying to hit him “right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open.”

Holden’s Return Home

When Holden decides to leave Pencey Prep a few days early, he says he “sort of needed a little vacation” before returning to his family’s house, but automatically tells the cab driver to take him to his parents’ house, foreshadowing his eventual return home. During his time in New York Holden attempts to live like a sophisticated, independent adult. He rents a hotel room, goes to fancy nightclubs, and moves around the city on his own. But Holden is in many ways still a child, and his attempts to return to his parents’ house indicate that he is not ready to be independent. When he leaves his house after talking with Phoebe, he wishes his parents would wake up and find him: “I figured if they caught me, they caught me. I almost wished they did, in a way.” Then, when Phoebe makes him promise to go home instead of running away, he tells us “I really did go home afterward.” Throughout the novel, Holden has been attempting to resist the draw of his childhood home, and in the end, he gives in.

Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? x

Answered by Cole H #1093121 on 12/21/2020 10:38 PM

He did, between chapters 25 and 26. 26 is the end, and a type of epilouge. Its months later, hes talking directly to someone, etc. He refrences being stuck somewhere, "a physcoanalist here," and a few other small details. With a bit of inference one could conclude he is in a mental facility. His parents are ignorant and keep shipping him off to different schools to get him away from them so what reason would they have to send him, someone they don't pay much attention to, to a mental phacility? He tried to kill himself.