Holden Caulfield is much more than a whiner--he sees the underbelly of a person and he is a saint--the world troubles him, and he's right, it sure is troubling. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. In terms of interpersonal relationships, Holden seems to do all right on the surface, being able to name friends and ex-girlfriends confidently. Holden begs him to stay, Have just one more drink, I told him. WebHolden Caulfield is teen angst bull-crap with a pickax. In a dialogue between Holden and his sister Phoebe, he confesses his fear of people thinking he is queer: He is very attached to his younger sister, Phoebe. It makes me depressed to think about it. . Posted on 26/01/2012 Anyone whos read The Catcher in the Rye probably thought, at one point or another, that Holden Caulfeld is flat out bipolar. One time the weather But there was something about the way his face looked, like he never had a goddam pimple in his life or something that looked off. The main character, Holden Caulfield (or Holden Cauliflower, as I affectionately call him) is a bit controversial and a bit polarizing. An interpretation of Holden Caulfield on the cover of the 2012 book, Learn how and when to remove this template message, The Catcher in the Rye - and related matters, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holden_Caulfield&oldid=1142721913, Fictional characters with psychiatric disorders, Characters in American novels of the 20th century, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from October 2016, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from March 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, In Japan, most of the short stories are already translated into Japanese (compiled in two volumes) and still commercially available with the approval of Salinger's agents (, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 00:58. He will not allow book to be made into movie. There can be high functioning on the autism spectrum though. If they fall off, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them. After meandering silently through the zoo. Holden Caulfield, fictional character, the teenaged protagonist and narrator of J.D. But assume then your girlfriend disappears one day and leaving you with an untouchable smoothie all alone. Depression is a serious issue and if it goes untreated for long enough, it can lead to one taking their life, Depression is a key risk factor for suicide (Suicide). The exact causes of depression are unknown. Holden Caulfield "I shoot people in this hat.". It affects the ability to make decisions as it clouds judgment, Another symptom attributed to depression is a diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day (Depression Symptoms). Itd be entirely different. Im crazy. And if she doesnt want to do something, she wont do it. What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. The bullies that pushed James to his death were merely expelled from school and let off the hook. He seems to think in strains of associations and will move through them regardless of relevance to the conversation. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Joined: 10 Oct 2006Age: 43Gender: FemalePosts: 1,054. Joined: 12 Nov 2007Age: 65Gender: MalePosts: 7,015. Tons of girls telling him how hot he looked, like this conceited bastard needed anyone else to tell him how good looking he was. Thousands of little kids, and nobodys aroundnobody big, I meanexcept me. Im pretty yellow. We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs. God, I love it when a kids nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Holden Caulfield In Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger At the very end, he went on Adolescence is defined as, the period of life when a child develops into an adult, the period from puberty to maturity terminating legally at the age of majority, the state or process of growing up, a stage of development (as of a language or culture) by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Literary SEO: Is Holden Caulfield a Christ Figure? | Avidly Another short story of note with relationship to Caulfield is "The Boy in the People Shooting Hat", which was submitted to The New Yorker sometime between 1948 and 1949 but was never published. Salinger's various stories (and one novel) featuring a character named Holden Caulfield do not share a cohesive timeline, and details about "Holden Caulfield" and his family are often inconsistent or completely contradictory from one story to another. Throughout the story, Holden expresses signs of having a mental health disorder. Often considered a symbol of teen angst, key traits of Holden's include: a feeling of He is only hypercritical of adults, who he sees as phonies and sell-outs. WebHolden has finally decided that he will avoid adulthood and escape his problems by running away from home and beginning a new life in the wilderness, where he plans on living He has grown 6 1/2 inches in just one year. WebHolden often behaves as if he has been sent onto Earth to point out the wickedness or phoniness of others, but then makes excuses when he behaves [deviant]the same way as the individuals he deems morons. Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye - Study.com He was crying and crying. People scream forever like anyone cares what they are complaining about as much as they do. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holden-Caulfield, National Public Radio - Holden Caulfield: Giving Voice to Generations. Omissions? He writes about clinical adolescent psychology. I also assumed Brian had autism but as the show progressed I felt his odd behavior was more mental health related. Carl went to another school a couple of years later and then I never heard anything about him. WebIts the LXVIIth time theyve met. However, his ability to function in social situations such as parties and other highly social areas [71] contradicts what most people refer to as an Aspie trait, so it cant be AS. She doesnt always have anything good to say, but she never stops talking. He is attracted to the trappings of adulthood: booze, cigarettes, the idea of sex, and a kind of independence. Sally meets a guy she knew and Holden sees him as phony. Get your paper done in as fast as 3 hours, 24/7. Instant PDF downloads. Like Holden. He just keeps falling and falling. Salinger never explicitly stated that Holden was homosexual, there are many clues throughout the book that suggest this to be true. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). I dont know what that has to do with anything, but he seemed to really want to know about how he died and whether I talked to anyone about it. So I google searched. The significance of this is that his brother, Allie, had red hair. He both condemns and accepts it at different points, but his feelings are ultimately ones of confusion and discomfort. I tried to read it a few years ago; I couldn't get more than halfway through it. Holden is 16 years old as the central story begins, tall at 6 feet 2 1/2 inches, partially gray-haired, and woefully skinny. It made me depressed, just thinking about old Mr. Langhorn with those shoes. His feelings are typically adolescent, feelings shared by virtually everyone who is or ever has been his age. is holden caulfield autistic He is alternately depressed, confused, angry, anxious, Why the hell do you have to say that?" When Phoebe finishes riding the carousel, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. She was a very nice, polite little kid. By constantly asking him about girls, he makes Holden uncomfortable. But I dont think you are callous and unemotional. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Holden starts off by telling us that he has been kicked out of another school, Pencey Prep. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all. Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# Ive thought Holden is on the spectrum possibly. Holden Caulfield: Literatures Biggest Phony Then I got the hell out. Especially in English class. (The Ackley thing might be a bit of internalized ableism poking through, now that I think about it). The dorm was empty. Holden does the same. Most notably, in some Salinger short stories "Holden Caulfield" is a soldier in WWII who was missing in action in 1944 -- something that is thoroughly impossible to have happened to the 16-year-old Holden Caulfield of The Catcher In The Rye, which is set in 1948 or '49. The events occur just after the death of Kenneth (later renamed Allie) and reveal the anxiety of Mary Moriarity, an actress and Caulfield's mother. When people think something is important to them, they just assume that its so goddam important to everyone else. Those suffering from depression tend to avoid admitting that they have a problem, Many people who have depression do not get help (Suicide and Depression). Salingers The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, it was an instant success. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. ", "Like hell it is." None of them played football, and they didnt give a damn about our schools team until they got here at Pencey. Several other details match those found in the first chapter of Catcher, including a reference to the mother of one of Caulfield's schoolmates and to his own mother sending him a gift of ice skates, but the story ends with his returning home instead of running away from school. Possible Mental Disorders of Holden Caulfield As an ADHD-autist myself, I have to agree. Yes, I do think he's an aspie--red hunting cap, inappropriate comments, mimicing adults in order to make conversation, analyzes everything, repetitive (keeps asking the same questions over and over--where do the ducks go in the winter?) The problems that Holden and Mark face are distance, selling out and character. "Okay.". The darkest form of Holdens social disconnect is when he hints that he has been a victim of sexual violence before, which is more likely to happen with autistic kids because of a lack of a sense of danger. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. WebCaulfield is a brutally honest character in terms of his thoughts and questions.