Overview Salinger’s novel

Sallinger’s novel portrays a troubled teen in New York, is thoughts , and adventures .
Over the course of the book, Holden’s unhealty mindset is displayed by his few interactions with various people and his sometimes questionnable actions

His mental states evolves a lot and eventually, by the end of the novel, he has a complete mental breakdown.
But why and how is this boy much more angry and depressed than a normal teenager his age ?
« “That’s the whole trouble. When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think.”

« “Anyway, I’m sort of glad they’ve got the atomic bomb invented. If there’s ever another war, I’m going to sit right the hell on top of it. I’ll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.”

Holden as an evident lack of self control, he often says and does things on a whim, without really thinking about the consequences that could eventually follow.

For example : when his younger brother Allie died, he broke all of his garage’s door « just for the hell of it », even though he can not expalin why he did it he says : «it was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing ».

An another sign of his evident depression is that he seems bored of everything, he hates everyone and doesnt really apply himself in the things he is good at like litterature for example.
Moreover, he’s a compulsive liar and he says so himself.

He will tell lies to somebody for no reason, no purpose : “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.”
Holden is also extremely lonely, he says he despises everybody, but anytime he is alone he tries calling someone, he goes outside, he talks to people
He is in desperate need of a friend, someone to talk to.
In general, Holden is a very troubled teen with evident mental health issue, he has a very conflicted mind and never really knows what he thinks
Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first one who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior.”

“I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.”
Many things can be suspected to be the cause of the hero’s unhealthy mental state.
One of the most evident is the death of his brother Allie.
This event marks the end of Holden’s childhood.
He doesnt talk about much wich is an indicator of how much it affect him and still does.
He acts like he got over this grief in front of phoebe « I know he’s dead ! Don’t you think i know that ? », but at his lowest moments he reveals that he always holds on to him and still talks to him sometimes, as if he was still alive, keeping him safe.

Holden also has an apparent inferiority complexe, his older brother is a succesfull Hollywood writer, he describes allie as the nicest, most intelligent person he has ever met … he feels like he his the least succesfull of the family.
Moreover mabye the reason why he describes everybody as « phonies » is because he doesnt belive in himself and doesnt feel great about his personnality.

He often talks about is difficulty getting alone with people and how he knows he’s not a great person to have a conversation with : « I know. I’m very hard to talk to. I realize that. »
This lack of self esteem his probably why he has this tendecy of pushing people away subconsciously.

Those few examples of Holden’s unstabilitly ;;;ldlmgkserhooh

Over the course of the book, his mental state is very unstable,
In the begining the reader might think that he is just a random over emotionnaly teenager as there is so many, but as the story evolves we see that his case is much more serious in a way.
By the end, Holden has a complete brakdown in the middle of new york’s streets, he feels like he’s falling, like his going to die and he desperaslty invoques his brother as if he was his guardian angel.