Connecting with Holden

I believe the hey concept of Catcher in the Rye is to demonstrate and give an example of the psychological struggles of teenagers battling depression and issues with self expression. In Holden's case, these thoughts and actions were most likely brought on by the death of his brother. This is shown when he breaks the windows in his garage the night his brother dies. Children and teenagers have the state of mind where they don't connect with death. It's something far off and intangible. So when a person close dies, or they have an encounter with it, it can pave the way for trauma or psychological issues. This is more likely in people such as Holden that have a hard time expressing their emotions in the first place. He is shut off from the world and probably doesn't have very good communication skills. So his pent up hurt and depression and anger is all held within himself until those wounds fester within his mind. This is why he has difficulty connecting with people and communicating.

I almost feel like all of these random thoughts in his head such as the ducks at the pond are distractions from the truth that he's hurting. If he doesn't think about it. He won't have to face it. But that also means he's never dealt with it. I can connect with holden about this. I also have trouble expressing myself and my emotions. And I would rather disconnect from a horrible situation than deal with it and cope. When my mother was in the hospital a year ago, she almost died. I didn't feel sad, I didn't cry, I didn't really feel anything because I disconnected and chose not to cope with those emotions. As a result, I don't won't know how to deal with something like that when it happens again and I could develop psychological issues like depression or rage. On top of this, I've read a lot into psychology lately and plan to study it, so I have an easy time connecting to Holden and his character's issues.