Argumentative Essay: Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield has been described as intelligent but cynical. As much as others try to convince me otherwise, he is crazy. Holden shows readers obvious signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, he is contradictory about almost anything and one of the biggest and most obvious signs is that this story is narrated by Holden from a mental institution.
Holden shows readers many noticeable sings of PSTD (post-traumatic stress disorder). There have been two events in his life which could have triggered this disorder. He has had to deal with Allie’s death due to leukemia and James Castle committing suicide while wearing the sweater Holden had lent him. One of the biggest signs that someone has PSTD is when they are constantly reliving the traumatic events over and over again in their heads. Holden consistently refers to seeing the face of his dead classmate James Castle but he doesn’t seem to have any emotional reaction to any of it. Holden also seems to talk still talk to Allie, out loud, even though he has passed away. PSTD can also trigger thoughts of suicide and we notice that in the book when Holden says that he felt like committing suicide by just jumping out the window. “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (Salinger, Ch. 14). All these symptoms can easily stem from depression and/or confusion in his life. J.D. Salinger also suffered from PSTD after coming home from World War II. So while I still think Holden Caulfield is crazy, J.D. Salinger must be just as crazy.
The fact that Holden contradicts himself so much proves that he is in fact, crazy. He says that he hates all these people like Ackley, Sally, Stradlater etc. Holden says he finds them all annoying and sometimes just out right stupid. So then why does he act nice to them? Why does Holden pretend to like these people whom he hates so much? Holden also mentions that he is an atheist but he always speaks about Allie in heaven: “”Allie’s dead – You always say that! If somebody’s dead and everything, and in Heaven, then it
isn’t really–” (Salinger). Something else Holden does is he mentions all the perverts that he sees through his hotel window and how weird they are but at the same time he is waiting for a prostitute. There are a ton of other examples but the point is that Holden is a very contradictory person. All in all, Holden is probably the most contradictory person I know. That’s pretty ironic though because that makes Holden the biggest phony I know too. And Holden hates phonies. So in the end, does he hate himself?
The last and most obvious argument that I think nobody can really argue is that the whole book is told from Holden’s point of view while he is in a mental institution. Holden had a nervous breakdown because of all the stress he’s been dealing with. However I don’t think he’s the only person with problems like these. There has to be something wrong with him for him to end up in an asylum. And if he cannot deal with his problems by himself, I think he belongs in an institution.
These are just some of the reasons why Holden Caulfield is crazy. He is a contradictory, cynical, crazy 17 year old with problems anybody else can have and if he can’t deal with them, he needs help.
