Many readers seem to think that The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about grief. In what ways does Holden exhibit aspects of the grieving process

Question

Savanna Griffin

English

19 February, 09:14

Many readers seem to think that The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about grief. In what ways does Holden exhibit aspects of the grieving process

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Marin Travis · Answer 1

Holden exhibits more than one of the stages of grief.

Explanation:

The Catcher in the Rye is a book written by J. D. Salinger. It is about Holden Caulfield, who is the main character, and how he deals with his brother's death, Allie.

About grief, there are seven stages, which are denial, depression, anger, bargaining, guilt, reconstruction, and acceptance.

Holden shows a lot of anger, specially when he breaks the windows in the garage in his house, showing that he is angry about the fact that his brother is dead and keep denying it. He uses strong vocabulary to describe this episode and curses when he narrates it.

Holden also faces denial and depression when he has to accept that his brother won't be there anymore, even though he wants to keep the bond they had when they were children.

In this two episodes, we can see that Holden is facing, at least, three of the stages of grief.