Levine 1

Noah Levine

Mr. Cross

English 12

January 22, 2019

Depression and Pessimism Throughout Novels of Term One

“New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for

The Catcher in the Rye miles. It makes you feel so lonely and depressed” (​ ​, 91). The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger, in his novel, ​ ​, and in his collection of short stories, Nine Stories ​, delves into the abstract idea of loneliness. The constant deceit in society leads to a character’s loneliness, causing them to become depressed and pessimistic. This depression and pessimism is evident when the reader observes how the characters act and what their choices are.

The Catcher in the This can be witnessed in certain characters such as Holden Caulfield from​ Rye. ​ We see him constantly smoking and drinking as an escape from his grim reality, while we also see how he says he hates many things and calls a lot of people phony. This is because

Holden is quite pessimistic and does not pay attention to the good things in his life such as his education, girls who like him, or his friends. Another example of how characters are depressed and pessimistic due to loneliness and deceit in society, is in J.D. Salinger’s collection of short

Nine Stories. Pretty Mouth and Green stories, ​ ​There are certain characters such as Arthur, from ​ My Eyes ,​ who exhibits symptoms of depression because his wife is not home, thus causing him to become lonely. This also is a motive for Arthur to become pessimistic, when he says things like, "We're mismated, that's all. That's the whole simple story. We're just mismated as

(Nine Stories, hell”​ ​ 120). Besides these two texts, there are other sources that confirm how

Levine 2 characters act when faced with loneliness and deceit in society. These sources are both articles from “The Economist”; they both display further evidence relating to my theme and to Holden

Caulfield by using interesting ideas such as speech patterns which can diagnose mental illness, or frequency of word use which can reveal one’s identity. Therefore, the constant deceit in society leads to a character’s loneliness, causing them to become depressed and pessimistic about society, their life, and their general view of the world.

The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of ​ ​, is a prime example of how, when faced with deceit in society, a character becomes lonely, depressed and pessimistic. The

The Catcher in the Rye, story of ​ ​written by J.D Salinger, takes place in New York City over the span of three days in 1949. Holden is very pessimistic and exhibits symptoms of depression. This is shown early on in the novel when he is kicked out of his private school, Pencey Prep. “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even

The Catcher in the Rye worse” (​ ​, 7). This quote highlights Holden’s problem, which is that he does not want to emotionally invest in people or places; he prefers to have closure with people by saying goodbye to them. Holden would rather exhibit depression due to leaving Pencey than feel sad about the fact that he doesn't get to feel connected enough to feel sad. Another example of how Holden is depressed, is when he says, “After I shut the door and started back to the living room, he yelled something at me, but I couldn't exactly hear him. I'm pretty sure he yelled "Good luck!" at me. I hope not. I hope to hell not. I'd never yell "Good luck!" at anybody. It sounds

The Catcher in the Rye terrible, when you think about it” (​ ​, 19). This quote reveals how deluded

Levine 3

Holden is, for it shows that Holden thinks badly towards those who say “Good luck!” From

Holden’s perspective, anything, even positive comments, can sound depressing and phony. This implies that Holden is lacking compassion and needs good luck of his own.

The Catcher in the Rye Throughout the novel, ​ ​, constant deceit in society towards Holden Caulfield, leads to him feeling lonely, causing depression and a pessimistic attitude. In chapter seven of the novel, this happens when Holden fights with Stradlater. Holden hears how his roommate Stradlater “Gave the time” to his date Jane Gallagher, and Holden in turn, becomes increasingly jealous and feels wronged. Unlike most guys who talk about having sex, Stradlater actually does it. Holden has been very close friends with Jane Gallagher since childhood and has developed strong feelings for her. For Holden, the deceit in society is to hear that the only girl he really cared about and did not consider phony (besides his sister Phoebe), was taken advantage of by his roommate Stradlater, who does not care for her at all the way Holden does, and instead is only using her for sex. Throughout this fight with Stradlater, Holden was drunk, illustrating yet again an example of how he tries to escape from his problems by constantly drinking and altering his state of mind. This sheds light on how depressed Holden truly is. After the fight with

Stradlater, Holden feels deceived and beaten. He then wakes up Robert Ackley whom he neither likes nor cares for. “And not only that, he had a terrible personality. He was also sort of a nasty

The Catcher in the Rye, 23 guy. I wasn’t too crazy about him, to tell you the truth” (​ ​). “Listen," I said, "do you feel like playing a little Canasta?" He was a Canasta fiend. "You’re still bleeding, for Chrissake. You better put something on it." "It’ll stop. Listen. Ya wanna play a little Canasta or don’tcha?" "Canasta, for Chrissake. Do you know what time it is, by any chance?" … I didn’t

Levine 4 answer him. All I did was, I got up and went over and looked out the window. I felt so lonesome,

The Catcher in the Rye all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead” (​ ,​ 53-54). This quote proves how characters act when faced with deceit in society. When Holden wakes Ackley up, it demonstrates Holden’s loneliness. He is feeling so rejected and forgotten by society that he needs solace from anyone, even a kid like Ackley. After feeling lonesome, Holden moves on to have feelings of depression and pessimistic and suicidal thoughts. This is clearly evident, when he says “I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.”

The Holden is depressed and feels constant deceit and isolation from society in the novel, ​ Catcher in the Rye ​. Another quote which shows this occurs in Chapter 25. This happens when Holden is waiting in the museum for his sister Phoebe. “Then, all of a sudden, you'd never guess what I saw on the wall. Another "Fuck you." It was written with a red crayon or something, right under the glass part of the wall, under the stones … was born and what year I died, and then right

The Catcher in the Rye under that it'll say "Fuck you." I'm positive, in fact” (​ ​, 224). This quote perfectly encapsulates why Holden feels deceit and isolation from society. He believes that society is deceiving people by allowing these unacceptable sayings to be written on public walls, able to be viewed by anyone, including innocent children. Holden feels that by viewing this, it is obscuring the future for innocent people and the good of society. After viewing this, Holden becomes very depressed and pessimistic when he talks about how on his own gravestone, it is inevitable that someone will write “Fuck You”, thus continuing the cycle of deceit; some innocent child can come up to Holden’s gravestone and read it, causing him or her to lose innocence and repeat and rewrite the phrase. This shows deceit because it displays how society

Levine 5 could deceive a young child of their innocence by exposing them to this language and the “ugly truths” of the real world.

Although there are many more cases of Holden feeling this way throughout the novel, one more example of how deceit in society leads to loneliness, causing depression and pessimistic thoughts, takes place in Chapter 14. This occurs just after the prostitute and the man in charge of her named Maurice, come barging into Holden’s hotel room and demand more money than they had originally asked for. This scene ends with Holden getting badly beaten by

Maurice. “She waved five bucks at me. "See? All I'm takin' is the five you owe me. I'm no crook." All of a sudden I started to cry. I'd give anything if I hadn't, but I did. "No, you're no crooks," I said. "You're just stealing five--" "Shut up," old Maurice said, and gave me a shove…

He snapped his finger very hard on my pajamas. I won't tell you where he snapped it, but it hurt like hell…Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep- I wasn’t even tired- but finally I did. What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I

The landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory” (​ Catcher in the Rye 1​ 15-117). This extract from the novel clearly demonstrates my thesis statement. After being beaten, Holden feels deceit in society and as a result, he is overwhelmed and begins to cry. Afterwards, Holden then feels lonesome and dejected. This is why he has the deranged thought about murdering Maurice. “As soon as old Maurice opened the doors, he'd see me with the automatic in my hand and he'd start screaming at me, in this very high-pitched, yellow-belly voice, to leave him alone. But I'd plug him anyway. Six shots right through his fat

The Catcher in the Rye hairy belly” (​ ,​ 116). Finally, Holden feels so incredibly depressed and

Levine 6 pessimistic that he actually thinks about committing suicide. This quote shows the extent to how lonely Holden feels, and points to his declining mental state.

The Catcher in the Rye ​is not the only novel where the constant deceit in society leads to Nine Stories a character’s loneliness, causing them to become depressed and pessimistic. ​ ​, also by De J.D Salinger, is a collection of short stories that displays this theme throughout. ​ Daumier-Smith's Blue Period ​is one of these stories. In this story, the main character, Jean de Daumier-Smith, is feeling depressed and experiencing deceit in society after his mother died. "I prayed for the city to be cleared of people, for the gift of being alone—a-l-o-n-e: which is the one New York prayer that rarely gets lost or delayed in channels, and in no time at all everything

Nine Stories I touched turned to solid loneliness" (​ ​, 129) It is apparent from this quote that the protagonist is quite lonely and just like Holden Caulfield, is depressed and wishes to be away from the constant hum-drum of society.

Nine Stories One last example of how J.D Salinger’s ​ r​ elates to my theme is featured in Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut the short story, ​ ​. This story centers upon two old friends who were college roommates, Eloise and Mary Jane. In this short story, the two women recount past memories, catch up on gossip and think about their old boyfriends and college days, all while getting drunk on highballs. “Mary Jane. Listen. Please," Eloise said, sobbing. "You remember our freshman year, and I had that brown-and-yellow dress I bought in Boise, and Miriam Ball told me nobody wore those kind of dresses in New York, and I cried all night?" Eloise shook

Nine Stores, Mary Jane's arm. "I was a nice girl," she pleaded, "wasn't I?” (​ ​35). This quote plainly illustrates, how after years of being trapped in a loveless and unfulfilling role as a mother and wife, Eloise snaps and almost pleads with Mary Jane to reassure her that she was once good.

Levine 7

Eloise is extremely depressed and pessimistic. This is seen from her struggle with deceit, when her first and only true love, Walt, was killed in a freak accident. This has led to Eloise’s constant use of alcohol to ease her pain, and to escape from her monotonous and grim reality. This is why

Eloise constantly relives her past; it is the only thing keeping her sane and it acts as a deterrent from her current state of misery. Eloise’s depression and pessimism also has an effect on her daughter, Ramona, who is shown little care or love by her mother. “"Ramona!" The child awoke with a sharp intake of breath. Her eyes opened wide, but she narrowed them almost at once.

"Mommy?"... Finally, she put the glasses back on the night table, lenses down. She stooped over, losing her balance, and began to tuck in the blankets of Ramona's bed. Ramona was awake. She

Nine Stories, was crying and had been crying” (​ ​34-35). Deceit and isolation from society causes Holden Caulfield to become depressed,

The Catcher in the Rye pessimistic and lonely. In​ ,​ there are many recurring words that Holden uses while he speaks, such as: goddam, hell, bastard, chrissake and sonuvabitch. These words have very negative connotations and meanings. Recent studies have shown that the use and frequency of these words is often a good indicator of that person’s view on the world, and can even be used to diagnose people with certain mental illnesses. “In addition to these specific correlations, the overall severity of a patient’s psychosis, regardless of the detailed pattern of traits, appeared to correlate with his use of emotionally loaded words. The absence of positive words in a transcript, and a preponderance of negative ones, such as “gloomy”, “dark” and

, “sadly”, was characteristic of those whose psychotic disorder was severe” (“The Economist”​ Listen and Learn Listen and Learn ​). This extract from the article, ​ ,​ is quite reminiscent of Holden Caulfield. It is clear that Holden may have some sort of mental issue or illness. The

Levine 8 words that Holden uses all the time are very negative, emotionally loaded and dark. From this study, one can deduce that Holden may be suffering from a severe psychotic disorder. This could have perhaps been initiated by the traumatic death of his brother Allie. “They were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I

The Catcher really don't … I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie” (​ in the Rye ​, 44). It is clear that after Allie’s death, Holden experienced a mental breakdown of sorts and became bothered by society. Again, this relates to how Holden was lonely without his brother, became depressed and started to have a pessimistic view of the world.

How to Identify Anonymous Prose The article, ​ ​, from “The Economist”, talks about how a person’s identity can be revealed, or how clues about them can be learned from the type of language they use in their writing and in their everyday conversation. This relates to Holden

The Catcher in the Rye Caulfield from ​ ​, as well as other characters facing depression, loneliness and possessing a pessimistic attitude. “Writings are not exactly like fingerprints; people produce many more than ten in a lifetime, and vary their style for any number of reasons—including attempting to disguise their authorship… Today, it is known that a piece of writing can supply hints of the probable sex of the author, along with their level of education, regional background and other qualities. Men go in for certain words more than women—and not just stereotypical

, How to ones (“football”) but common ones like “a”, “this” and “these” (“The Economist”​ Identify Anonymous Prose ​). This excerpt clearly shows how the study proves its point and how it relates to Holden. Looking at the character of Holden Caulfield, we can see that as stated in

Listen and Learn ​, it is clear that Holden may have some sort of mental issue or illness. The words that Holden uses all the time are very negative, emotionally loaded and dark. However,

Levine 9 these negative or necessarily dark words are not the only “fingerprint” that Holden leaves.

Reading through the novel, it is clear that Holden uses the word “Old” a lot, however, rather than using it in its denotative meaning, Holden uses “Old” more as a nickname or a term of endearment. In fact, “Old” is one of the most used words in the novel, appearing around 400 times. Holden uses this word as a way to distinguish people, that he cares about from the rest of the “phonies” of society, as well as a way to make himself seem more mature. The way that

Holden uses the word “Old” is reminiscent of the way Jay Gatsby uses the phrase “Old Sport”, in

The Great Gatsby the novel,​ ​ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Another word that Holden uses throughout the novel, is the word “phony”. Although not used very frequently (around 50 times), the use of the word “phony” shows how Holden is annoyed at society and has his own “trademark” phrase to describe the world.

In summation, the theme of how deceit in society causes loneliness, leading a character to exhibit depression and pessimism, is prevalent across many texts and articles. In J.D

The Catcher in the Rye Nine Stories, Salinger’s ​ ​and ​ t​ here are many examples of how this theme relates to characters and affects their actions, language and relationships. Moreover, articles such

Listen and Learn How to Identify Anonymous Prose as ​ a​ nd ​ ,​ show how certain types of language, word choice or frequency of word use when writing, can be indicative of mental illness or even reveal the identity of a specific person as well as be a “trademark”. Many things influenced

Holden to act this way such as the death of his brother Allie, or his roommate Stradlater taking

Nine Stories the innocence from Holden's first real love. ​ i​ s also filled with examples of this such Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes as when Arthur, from ​ ​, exhibits symptoms of depression and

Levine 10 pessimism. All in all, the theme of deceit, loneliness and depression is a common occurrence throughout many facets of life.

Levine 11

Works Cited:

The Economist “A Simpler, Better Way to Diagnose Mental Illness.” ​ ​, The Economist Newspaper, 25 Oct. 2018, www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/10/25/a-simpler-better-way-to-diagnose-men tal-illness.

“How Are the Themes of Depression and Loneliness Shown in The Catcher in the Rye?

Enotes.com .” ​ ,​ Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-themes-depression-loneliness-shown-catcher-rye-467280

.

The Sitting Bee McManus, Dermot. “De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period by J.D. Salinger.” ​ ​, 23 Mar. 2015, sittingbee.com/de-daumier-smiths-blue-period-j-d-salinger/.

The Sitting Bee McManus, Dermot. “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut by J.D. Salinger.” ​ ​, 12 Sept. 2014, sittingbee.com/uncle-wiggily-in-connecticut-j-d-salinger/.

NINE STORIES SALINGER, J. D. ​ .​ BACK BAY Books LITTLE BRN, 2018. The Catcher in the Rye Salinger, J. D. ​ ​. Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company, 2018.

Shmoop Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Catcher in the Rye Sadness Quotes Page 1.” ​ ,​ Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/catcher-in-the-rye/sadness-quotes.html.

The Economist “How to Identify Anonymous Prose.” ​ ​, The Economist Newspaper, 20 Sept. 2018, www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/09/20/how-to-identify-anonymous-prose.

J.D. Salinger Timeline Slawenski, Kenneth. “Dead Caulfields.” ​ ​, deadcaulfields.com/CatcherChronology.html.

Levine 12

Prooffreader.com Taylor, David. “Word Cloud of The Catcher in the Rye.” ​ ​, 9 Sept. 2013, www.prooffreader.com/2013/09/word-cloud-catcher-in-rye_9.html.

Www.thesaurus.com “The World's Favorite Online Thesaurus!” ​ ,​ www.thesaurus.com/. Poynter “What J.D. Salinger Taught Me about Literary Use of the F-Word.” ​ ,​ 25 Nov. 2014, www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2010/what-j-d-salinger-taught-me-about-literary-use-of-the-f

-word/.

“Who Is Phoebe in The Catcher in the Rye and Why Is She Called ‘Old’ Phoebe?”

Enotes.com ,​ Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/who-phoebe-why-does-holden-call-her-quot-old-quot-38255.