The Depiction Of Mental Illnesses In The Catcher In The Rye Of J.D Salinger
If someone close to you suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Schizophrenia do you think that they should be put in a Mental Hospital? In the novel The Catcher In The Rye of J.D Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old boy that’s always struggled to fit in. Throughout the novel, he slowly shows parts of himself that shows he has many mental illnesses. All together it might seem like he has some more psychological problems.
Through Karen Horney neurotic needs theory Holden Caulfield is bipolar, which is caused by his hostile and antisocial behavior. Karen Horney studied the start of why people developed neurosis. According to Horney, neurosis grows out of an extreme need to feel loved and wanted which later creates other needs. She thought that people with basic anxiety over-fulfilled a need. She also thought that basic anxiety came when someone was feeling hopeless, isolated, or abandoned as a result of being raised by emotionally neglectful parents. In Holden’s case, he felt hopeless, and isolated because he never really emotionally connected with his parents. His mother was physically and emotionally distant after the loss of her son Allie. He never talked about his father much which shows they’re not close either. Holden also felt different when he was compared to his siblings. He considered himself to be the dumbest kid out of his siblings and all his other siblings were the smart ones. Holden considers that his childhood was lousy and boring.
In the very first page of The Catcher In The Rye, he says “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me. In the first place that stuff really bores me and in the second place my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them”. This shows that he didn’t really enjoy his childhood if he thought it was lousy. He also might feel bad for being born because he says his parents were occupied before they had him, that might make him feel like he ruined their lives by stopping what they were doing. It also shows how reserved his parents are because he says they would have hemorrhages if he said anything personal about them. So his parents didn’t want to open up to other people too.
According to Karen Horney theory Holden suffers from anxiety which was caused by his feeling of hopelessness, and isolation which was impacted by his relationship with his parents. Holden always wanted to be wanted and loved because he never received that from his parents. In Karen Horney theory, after basic anxiety behavior happens it creates needs. Some of the needs are need for Affection and Approval, need for Self-Sufficiency and Independence, need for Perfection and Unassailability, need for a Partner Who Will Take Over One’s Life, and need to Restrict One’s Life, need for Power, need to Exploit Others, need for Prestige, need for Personal Admiration, and need for Personal Achievement. These ten needs are classified into 3 more broad categories. The first category is needs that move you towards others then needs that move you away from others, and lastly needs that move you against others. Holden has many of these needs that he uses to make himself feel wanted and accepted.
The top three needs that Holden has is need for Affection and Approval, need for a Partner Who Will Take Over One’s Life or A dominant partner, and need for Self-Sufficiency and Independence. In the novel, Holden talks about his sister Phoebe and how she is his favorite person. Holden like her because he feels comfortable and accepted when he’s with Phoebe. She gives him hugs and kisses and is a sympathetic listener which gives him the feeling of affection. His need for a dominant partner is shown when he asks Sally Hayes to marry him and live in a cabin. In a way, it shows how he wants someone to spend time with so he won’t be lonely and someone to guide his life.
One of the biggest needs that Holden had was the Need for Self-Sufficiency and Independence. He wanted to be treated like an adult and be all independent. He thinks he prepared to be an adult but he really isn’t. In one point of the novel, Holden orders a prostitute but then later backs out and doesn’t want to do anything. That shows how he wanted to be an adult but is too immature and so he can’t. In one point of the novel Holden shows how he is not ready to be independent as an adult, this happens when he orders a prostitute and he changes his mind and says “nothing's the matter. Boy was I getting nervous. The thing is that I had an operation very recently. Yeah? Where? On my wuddayacallit-my clavichord. yeah where the hell is that? The clavichord? I said. Well actually, it's in the spinal canal. I mean it's quite a way down the spinal canal. Do you mind cutting it out? I said I'm not in the mood, I just told you. I just had an operation. This shows how he wanted to be an adult but he can’t go through with it. It also shows how he is still childish because he lies about his surgery and his clavichord so he can get out of doing anything with the prostitute. Holden is unclear on what he wants regarding his needs because he wants a dominant partner to guide his life but he also wants to be an independent adult. Holden has basic anxiety which creates needs that he wants like Affection and Approval, dominant partner, and Self-Sufficiency and Independence. He is unclear about what he wants regarding his needs because he want a dominant partner to guide his life but he also wants to be an independent adult.
Lastly, Karen Horney theory talks about having neurotic swings between the ideal and the despised self. The ideal self is Created based on what one is lacking, and is believed to be what “should” be and despised self Is the self that is hated. She also says that a healthy person’s real self is aimed to reach their self-actualization. Holden is not self-actualized because he does not realize his potential. Holden has been kicked out of three schools. He recently got kicked out of pencey prep for failing four of his five classes. He says he didn’t like pencey because it was filled with phoneys so that also meant he didn’t try in any of his classes. He only passed one class at pencey, it was his English class. It shows that Holden has not self-actualized because he doesn't realize that he is smart enough to pass his English class without trying. He thinks he is the dumbest kid. He doesn’t realize he is actually really smart. Even his roommate Stradlater goes to him so he can write his English composition paper for him. Stradlater thought he was smart. When Stradlater goes to ask Holden to do his paper for him he says “how bout writing a composition for me, for English? I’m the one that’s flunking out of this goddamn place, and you’re asking me to write your goddamn composition I said. Just don’t do it too good, is all, he said. That sonuvabitch Hartzell thinks you're a hot-shot in English, and he knows you're my roommate. So i mean don’t stick all the commas and stuff in the right place”. Holden was shocked that Stradlater would ask him to write his composition for him even though he was failing out of pencey. Even Stradlater’s teacher knew that Holden was smart. Stradlater had to tell him not to make it too good and not to add all the commas and stuff.
Overall, according to Karen Horney he is not healthy because of him not self-actualized. He lacks the ability to see his full potential. Holden Caulfield is bipolar which is created from his antagonistic and asocial behavior, according to Karen Horney’s standard from her neurotic needs theory Holden is mentally unhealthy. Karen Horney theory of neurosis is developed from an extreme need to feel loved and wanted which then later create neurotic needs. The three biggest needs that Holden has are the need for Affection and Approval, need for a Partner Who Will Take Over One’s Life or A dominant partner, and need for Self-Sufficiency and Independence. Lastly, Holden does not realize his full potential which makes him not self-actualized.
