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.