How Does Holden Alienate Himself

Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old boy who has to deal with all of the toils of growing up, while dealing with the loss of his younger brother and an unstable home. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is a story about a boy who alienates himself from people he loves and knows as a form of protection from being hurt. The main reason that Holden acts this way is because he is still dealing with the loss of his brother, Allie. “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have my psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. (…) I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. (…) It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie” (44). Holden was very emotional after his brother’s death, which is obvious to anyone who reads
“…"I'm going with you. Can I? Okay?" "What?" I said. I almost fell over when she said that. I swear to God I did. I got sort of dizzy and I thought I was going to pass out or something again.. . . Can't I go with you? Holden? Can't I? Please."…"No. Shut up." I thought I was going to pass out cold. … Because you're not going. I'm going alone. …" …All of a sudden I wanted her to cry till her eyes practically dropped out. I almost hated her. I think I hated her most because she wouldn't be in that play any more if she went away with me” (227). Throughout this story Holden struggles with wanting to be able to save all children from the world that he is so afraid to live in himself (when he wanted to be the catcher in the rye keeping them from falling off the cliff while playing), but this is a completely different side of what he claims to be wishing for. He is rejecting the one sole person that he claims to care about most in the world, his