The Disorder that is life

The disorder that is life In society today many people go through different challenges that affect their lives and completely alter them for better or worse. However in J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, life has taken its toll on one boy named Holden. In the story Holden narrates his life about when he was kicked out of his prep school and forced to live on his own in New York for a few days. While there Holden goes through more problems which affect him drastically. For Holdon and Christopher in Mark Haddon’s The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time trying to go through life is a struggle due to events in their life. In the story Christopher tells us about his life as he tries to find the killer of a local dog. While on his adventure Christopher comes across many scenarios that take their toll on his life in addition to his Autism. In Catcher in the Rye and The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time, both Holden and Christopher endure life altering experiences causing a disorder in their life. For both Holden and Christopher death has placed a huge life altering role. Christopher life took a completely different path when he came across death. Our story with Christopher begins due to a death. Christopher finds a local dog dead and decides to write a mystery novel which ends up being a story of his life. When we first join Christopher he is walking along the road and sees Wellington on Mrs. Shears lawn and says “’It looked like it was running on its side, thee way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead.’”(pg. 1) This is the beginning of the story and death already affects Christopher’s life. His life takes a wild adventure due to this death. Another example is when his father told him that his mother has died in the hospital, until Christopher finds her. When Christopher was telling his mother why they never talked to her, Christopher told her
“’He said you went into the hospital because you had something wrong with your heart. And then you had a heart attack and died and he kept all the letters in a shirt box in the cupboard in his bedroom and I found them because I was looking for a book I was writing about Wellington being killed and he’d taken it away from me and hidden it in the shirt box.’”(pg. 193)
Christopher explains to his mother why he has acted as if she was dead. He had to deal with the fact his father lied to him causing him to believe she has passed. Christopher journey begins with a death and is furthered by another one. Even though Christopher’s experiences with death don’t send him on a negative path Holden’s do. For Holden death takes a negative roll on his life affecting his mindset. The death in Holden’s life is what shaped him and changed the way he viewed life. Holden lost his younger brother Allie at an early age which affects his attitude and how he acts. While writing a composition for his friend Stradlater, Holden tells us about his brother and states “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.”(pg.39) this quote shows Holden’s remorse for his brother. It expresses how much he must have loved him and illustrates how Holden’s mentality was changed. Due to the early death of his brother Holden never had a normal childhood. As an example we join Holden’s thoughts while looking at his late brother Allies baseball mitt. He tells us “he’s dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine on July 18, 1946. You’d have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent.” (pg.38) the quote simply tells us about Allies death. It also helps us get an understanding on how highly he thinks of him. Holden lost his younger brother at a young age which has its effects on his life. Christopher and Holden are plagued with the experiences of deaths. These deaths completely alter their mentality eventually destroying their social abilities. Due to events in their past and personal issues Christopher and Holden don’t meet the social norm when it comes to interactions. Christopher’s mental issues limited his social abilities causing his social awkwardness. Autism is a disorder that affects ones mental abilities and for Christopher is was his social skill and how he reacts to new people. For example, when Mrs. Shears Christopher’s neighbor found him holding the dead Wellington she called the police. As the officer questioned him he grabbed his arm, Christopher stated ‘The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this. And this is when I hit him.” (pg.8) As the officer bombarded Christopher with a number of questions he got nervous and when the officer grabbed Christopher he reacted as he normally does when someone he doesn’t know touches him. Christopher reaction shows how he does not like human contact. To further show Christopher awkwardness the event occurs after finding his mother. He shows how he’s different and his lack of social skills. To illustrate when Christopher found his mother in London after thinking she was dead. Christopher said “and mother put her arms around me and said, ‘Christopher, Christopher, Christopher’ and I pushed her away because she was grabbing me and I didn’t like it, and I pushed really hard and I fell over.” (pg.191) After a long journey to find his mother Christopher ends up at her front door, seeing her from the first time in a long time. A normal person would hug their mother, but Christopher pushes his mother away when she tried to hug him. This just shows how Christopher reacts even when it’s with a loved one. While Christopher social abilities limit the amount he talks and how comfortable he is when it comes to contact with others. For Holden it is only the conversational skills that are below average. Holden is not a people person and is show as he has many awkward confrontations. When Holden decides to leave Pencey he begins to met and talk to new people often lying about simple things. To illustrate while on the train to New York Holden meets Mrs. Marrow and when asked what his name is Holden says “Rudolf Schmidt,’ I told her. I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life history” (pg. 55) Holden believes that he must lie to fit in. He feels as if saying his name will cause a whole issue with his conversation. Holden doesn’t understand what the social norm is and that one is not obligated to give a life story due to their name. Another prime event is when Holden actually arrives in New York. He decides to spark a conversation with the cab driver that is not what he usually talked about. In the cab Holden randomly says “You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?’(pg 60) the only reason why this shows social awkwardness is because it is not a question that one normally asks a stranger. Both Christopher and Holden lack a certain amount of social skills that are required to meet the social norm. These lack of skills are not helpful while the two are out on their own. Not many children must go out on their own at a young age, but for Christopher and Holden it is a necessity. For Christopher whole life he has depended on his mother and father, but he was seen on his own. After Christopher has relied on his dad for so long being lied to takes a big toll on his mentality, making him feel emotionally on his own. After Christopher’s father tells him about how he killed Wellington he thinks to himself “father had murdered Wellington. That meant he could murder me, because I couldn’t trust him, even though he said ‘Trust me’, because he had told a lie about a big thing.”(pg. 122) Even though Christopher has not actually left and has to survive on his own that’s how he feels. After having a huge amount of trust in his father, when it is broken Christopher can’t cope and becomes emotionally isolated, feeling alone. The event with his father has Christopher feeling as if he can no longer stay there due to fear. While hiding from his father in the garden Christopher is overcomes with fear making massive decisions he stated “I decided I couldn’t go home again.”(pg. 129) Full of fear and a lack of trust Christopher decided that he must go out on his own and leave his father household. Christopher does not only go out on his own to find his mother, but also emotionally isolating himself from others, while Holden only travels on his own. Holden was away from his family at prep school but never truly alone until he realized he was going to be kicked out. For Holden emotional isolation and feeling on his own is nothing new after the loss of his brother. To illustrate when we first join Holden at the top of the hill he expressed his emotional distress when saying “I don’t care if it’s a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t you feel even worse” (pg.4) Holden has a hard time making friends and fitting in, so as he prepares to leave Pencey Holden feels as if he was already on his own due to the emotional isolation. Another prime example occurs when Stradlater asks Holden to write his composition for him and it turns out bad. The two fight and sparks a massive response from Holden. After Holden gets into a fight with Stradlater he decides that his time at Pencey is up by saying “I decided what I’d really do, I’d get the hell out of Pence – right that same night and all.”(pg.51) Holden is fed up with the people at his school and instead of heading home and getting yelled at, Holden decides to leave and go to New York. Not many kids go out on their own that a young age but Christopher and Holden do. Their lack of maturity along with their young age make their experiences bad, but are easy to learn from. For Christopher and Holden there are multiple different events that affect their life eventually forming a disorder in their lives. Both boys express a great deal of social awkwardness, either being a confrontation or conversation. They are also affected by the death of loved ones and the death of their innocence. And finally their adventure out on their own at a young age drastically affects their mental state. However, these events can affect a person’s life in either a positive or negative way, but these two boys they have provided a disorder in their life