Holden's Depression In 'Catcher In The Rye'

Holden’s Depression

There were recurring patterns Holden unconsciously fell into that contributed to his depression and then there were events that halted these depressions. The events that contributed to his depression were that he judged people, he judged himself and he did not take care of himself. Of course there were events that halted the depression such as the act of love shown by his sister Phoebe. Love is perceived as forgiveness, peace, living in the moment and happiness. His sister is the only person in the book who shows these characteristics. As for Holden he never doesn’t experience love at all, he is always depressed and is never really happy in the book. Except when he is with his sister, he feels happy and is in the moment.
When he is with Sally Hayes, a girl who used to be his girlfriend, he starts talking to her about what he hates. Sally tells him not to shout, but he denies it. He is judging himself because he doesn’t believe that he is exadrating and shouting. Then he starts talking about other things that he hates, he keeps shouting and denying that he is shouting. Then Holden asks Sally if she wants to live in the woods with him. She says no and he states that she is making him depressed “I was getting depressed as hell again” (pg.133). But in reality he is making himself depressed by hanging on to the fact that she doesn’t want to live in the woods. When he goes to Mr. Spencer’s house, he comes in to the door and immediately starts hating on everything and getting depressed. But the only reason he went there was to feel happy and not get depressed “The minute I went in, I was sort of sorry I’d come. He was reading the Atlantic Monthly, and there were pills and medicine all over the place. And everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops. It was pretty depressing.” (7) He makes himself feel like he does not deserve to be happy and that he needs to be depressed in order to be Holden, he cannot change himself at