Allie’s Death
Through out The Catcher In The Rye, Holden goes through Denial and isolation, anger, and acceptance. At first Holden starts out isolating himself and then anger kicks in soon after. After he no longer feels much anger, he loses a lot of his social contacts and this stage happens during the whole book until near the end. Finally he begins accepting Allies Death and focuses on things that are happening in the world.
First stage he shows is Isolation, where he doesn’t talk to many people and becomes less and less social. People who have lost a loved one often distant themselves from others fearing the pain they felt from the first loss, will return. In chapter Five, Holden first starts to talk about Allie. In the book it states, “I slept in the garage the night he died” which is where the isolation happens. Then after he goes through an anger stage, he comes back to isolating himself. Many times in the book Holden is alone and very, very lonely. Holden’s relationship with Allie was so great that everyone Holden encounters has to fit Allie’s model, which is very perfect. I think this influenced him not making many friends. He doesn’t have any friends or tries to really make friends in the beginning. His relationships with his roommates aren’t exactly friendly. Also he isn’t with his family a lot either. A part where he shows denial is where he talks to Allie, and pretends he’s still there with him, alive. Holden even admits that when he is very depressed he talks to Allie. He talked to him and told him to go get his bike so he could do something with him and his friend, which is one thing tat Holden didn’t let Allie do. So he’s also feeling a little guilty.
Another stage he goes through after his brother’s death is anger. Anger occurs after the first time he goes through isolation. “I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it,” This statement makes it clear that Holden tried to take his anger...