The Catcher in the Rye - Holden's obsession with death

ENGLISH ESSAY

The Catcher in the Rye

In the book The Catcher in the Rye, Holden (the main character) is close to having an obsession with death, which might have come from having experienced two deaths in his early life.

The death that affected him the most was Allie’s, who was Holden’s brother. In the book, the author shows that Holden hasn’t yet overcome the loss of his brother “he’s dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18, 1946. (…) I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage”. Allie was his example of life. He was someone who Holden admired a lot “You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent. (…) He was also the nicest in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody” because he was one of the few people that accepted him how he was without making any prejudges over him and who he had shared his life with.

He relates some of the things that happen to him with his brother, thinking that maybe his life could have been different with Allie around. That maybe he would have helped him and that way he would have been a different person. A better person, maybe.

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This fact meant a lot to him. And made him feel alone. That’s why Holden was always trying to be surrounded by people. He was afraid of not being accepted “Hi, I said, but I didn’t look up from my book. With a guy like Ackley, if you looked up from my book you were a goner.” He was always pleasing others making them feel good, even though sometimes he didn’t agree with what he was doing.

He was also afraid of feeling pain, because he had suffered a lot during his life, especially with Allie’s loss. This pain is felt when others reject you, or when they leave you, such as when a friend walks off or a beloved brother dies.

Holden was very worried about HIS death, he sometimes wishes to die or he gets used to the idea of dying “then I read this other article about how you can tell if you have cancer or not. It said if you had any sores in your mouth that didn’t heal pretty quickly, it was a sign that you probably had cancer. I’d had this sore on the side of my lip for about two weeks. So I figured I was getting cancer. (…) I figured I’d be dead in a couple of months because I had cancer. I really did. I was even positive I would be ” from time to time he feels he isn’t worth living, but something always comes up and helps him see he is wrong. One of those “things” is his little sister Phoebe, who he loves very much and who – he feels - has to protect.

The sad part about Holden’s thoughts was the way his life was “another” thing, like if it was something normal not caring about himself. He didn’t value his life haw he should. And didn’t realize how important he was for others, like his sister.

The feeling was also reflected in Holden’s insecurity. He was an indecisive person. He was never sure about what he wanted and if his decision was the best one. That was why he was bad at making decisions.

Holden was a very sensitive person even though that was the last thing he showed in the book, maybe he was afraid of feeling “phony”.

Bibliography:

1. SALINGER, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Ed. Little, Brown and Company, United States of America, 1991

SALINGER, J.D. the Catcher in the Rye. Pg 38-39.

Ibid Idem. Pg 38.

Ibid Idem. Pg 20.

Ibid Idem. Pg 196.