A Phony Reality
As a catcher in a field of rye, what is your goal? This is what Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye has to ask us. Our friend Holden feels the desire to save as many children he possibly can from the bleak truth and future that they face. His mind is haunted by trauma and his own past. Our Holden suffers of PTSD, and primarily, depression. Holden does not seem like somebody to be depressed, but this thought is exactly the opposite of what Kevin Breel wants to tell us.
Kevin struggles with more mental issues than that of a normal person. Sure, everybody struggles, but nothing compares to the illness that is depression. It isn't something that someone can see with the naked eye, so most of our society refuses to believe in it. Depression isn't something in society that you can just put a band-aid over and call it okay. There is a deeper meaning to what we call depression, and it goes way beyond sadness. "Real depression isn't being sad when something in your life goes wrong. Real depression is being sad when everything in your life is going right. That's real depression" (Kevin Breel 1:19-1:54). Being depressed is simply just being in a constant state of negativity. To define what depression truly feels like from me personally, it is a net being thrown over your brain. The weaving contents of that net are full of negative energy that forces us to return to look at the bleak truth. Similar to a fishing net for fish, depression is a "braining" net for brains and the mentality of a human being. It consumes you, and prevents one from further progressing in life. Depression is a trap; a very dangerous and complex trap... Breel attempts to tell society that depression isn't an identity, and it doesn't have to be the entire makeup of who you are as a person. This is what Holden Caulfield struggles with the most, and it is presumably so, that Holden does not yet recognize this. Holden is trapped in the past and hasn't found an opening in his net to escape from. He fails to find anyone that is able to stand by his side and help him break through the barrier of the past. The only being that Holden truly receives any help from is his deceased little brother, Allie. Despite the fact that he was taken from Holden by the treacherous grasp of death, Allie serves as Holden's last hope; his last grasp onto life... a guardian angel... Holden is very inside of himself, and is caving in. His stability in this world has whittled down to nothing but tiny strands of thread. He looks at society and doesn't to see what there is left for him. It's not that he refuses to see those things, it is really that he can't see those things... Holden Caulfield, a legend of his own time, is a mirror for most teenagers today. However, the teenagers of today don't truly understand what it is like to be like Holden Caulfield. Society as a whole is unable to understand how depression works, so we just see Holden's humorous, sarcastic attitude and feel that we can relate to such a thing. A more incorrect thing couldn't have been stated. There is no relating to Holden Caulfield for the majority, for it is the minority that understands and is able to look beneath the outer shell of one's character. |
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