In Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger Holden is characterized as a normal teenager, but throughout the book he demonstrates some behaviors that can label him more as abnormal. Although the book doesn’t not take during a long period of time the actions that Holden takes, and thoughts that he constantly has tells the reader that he isn’t mentally stable. Even though some of his experiences are not the best it does not justify how he decides to deal and react to them.
The decisions that Holden takes in order to cope with the pain that he is feeling can at times seem pretty reasonable, but is it the right way to do it ? In chapter 5, Holden speaks on the death of his brother Allie. At this point it is seen how he constantly reminisces and overthinks things that are completely out of his control. The death of his brother is something he will never be able to forget, but this only shows how he is making himself suffer more by continuously thinking about the past. Holden seems to be stuck in his thoughts which stops him from thoroughly living his life or from even bettering himself. On pages 6-7, we see how Holden over-scrutinizes situations. He specifically states “when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” which adds on to the idea that he thinks too much of things of minimum importance. Someone can think about an occurrence for a good while but after some time there is another thing that crosses their mind. No single thing should replay over and over again because it’ll cause to overfeel. This is what seems to happen with Holden due to the fact that he thinks of the same things too much. He is the cause of his own sadness and misery since he bottles up all his thoughts and feelings. It is never seen in the book that he completely opens up to anybody meaning that there is no intention to reach out to anybody for help or at least to feel better.
Not only does Holden bottle up his feelings, but also let’s used harmful substances to handle his issues. In chapter 12 and 14 we see how Holden not only drinks alcohol but also is smoking cigarettes like if it was nothing. The use of these substances does not make his situation any better. When he is either smoking or drinking he is not escaping any of the things that he is feeling. In fact, it makes it worse because it could lead to him depending on these substances to control his feelings. He isn’t emotionally stable and tries to fill those gaps in with alcohol, but it it is something that is only temporary. The absence of his parents and the death of his brother should be something that pushes him to do better and not worse. He uses these bad experiences as an excuse to make bad decisions. He feels like he has no way out and nothing in his life to completely fill him up. At this point we see how he needs help more than ever.
Despite the fact that Holden shows some behaviors that seem abnormal for a teenager, at some points through the book he does show some normality. For example, at the end of the book he plans on running away, but the moment that he sees his little sister Phoebe all of that changes. He doesn’t want to leave one of the things he most cares about. He reflects and decides to stay and try to do better. Phoebe was the only thing that made things just seems a little brighter. He admits that he felt happy with her, when he saw “the way old phoebe kept going around and around”. It is towards the end of the book when his perspective on things don’t seem so negative. He doesn’t completely go from being negative to positive, but it’s clear how Phoebe brings out the better side of Holden. Holden seems to find a way to cope with everything when he gets home next to his sibling. The relationship he has with Phoebe strongly influences his decisions due to how much he cares for her.
Overall Holden has shown to be a teenager how doesn’t know how to manage everything that he goes through. He lets his emotions and thoughts get to him which interfere with him progressing in anything type of form in life. Towards the end of the book he shows to want to do better, but in reality it is just a thought that he has, the thoughts and feelings he has throughout the whole book show his unstableness. Holden creates his own affliction.