Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caufield, describes in detail the parts of his life and his environment that bother him the most. He faces these problems with a kind of naivety that prevents him from fully understanding why it is that he is so depressed. His life revolves around his problems, and he seems helpless in evading them. Among others, Holden finds himself facing the issues of acceptance of death, growing up, and his own self-destructiveness.One of the hardships Holden must cope with is his inability to come to terms with death, in particular that of his younger brother, Allie. Holden seems to have experienced a rather happy and carefree childhood; he lived with his siblings, Phoebe and Allie, and had his older brother D.B. to look up to. Then Holden suddenly is faced with the realization that he has to grow up, and learn to live without Allie. The initial reaction is painful; Holden breaks his hand in a fit of emotion soon after the death. By the time Holden is sixteen years old, he has done little more than accept the fact that Allie is dead. We still see Holden seeking Allie in his bouts of depression. In chapter twenty-five, Holden, while walking along Fifth Avenue, begins to believe that he will not be able to get to the other side of the street each time he reaches the end of a block, as if he will just "fall off." He talks aloud to Allie to help him get through the ordeal. Holden also continues to see Allie as one of the few things he likes about life.Yet another demon that Holden avoids is the process of having to grow up. Throughout the book, he seems hesitant to develop any real ambitions or goals. He is a perpetual failure at school. He refuses to associate himself with mature ways of living, and so isolates himself from anyone his own age or older. This is all directly connected to Holden's picture-perfect image of his childhood. He sees this particular period of his life as hi...
