Theme Of Suicide In Catcher In The Rye

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Bryson Litvay 11-6-11 Ms. Manley Period F Suicide Many people who seem to have a wonderful life are pushed to the point of suicide. Many things lead up to suicide, such as problems with your family or your friends. In The Catcher In the Rye, Holden contemplates suicide due to a couple of reasons. Some of the things that led to his suicidal thoughts were loneliness, depression, and alienation. The first reason that Holden thought about suicide was because of all the loneliness he has to face. Right from the beginning of the book, Holden talks about being lonely, for example when he was at the football game he said “practically the whole school was there..” (p.2) Instead of sitting in the stands and hanging out with everyone else Holden sat on top of the hill to watch the game alone. Also, when Holden is in the lavender room, he gets mad…show more content…
After being hit by Maurice, Holden feels very depressed and starts thinking about suicide. He says “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory." (p.104) Holden wants to die because everyone is a phony but he wants to live because the phonies would judge him if he jumped. During the same part of the book, Holden talks about how he was trying to find some kind of “good-by” to Pencey, he says “What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse.” (p.4) In this quote, Holden tells about how he would rather have a sad good-by, rather than not getting connected enough to feel

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