1. Allie's Death
1.1. "He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. God, he was a nice kid, though."
1.1.1. Holden lost a huge person in his life. I feel that Allie was the only one that treated him with respect and kindness. Without his brother with him, he is struggling to see these features on anyone else.
1.2. "I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. "
1.2.1. This quote proves the vast amount of depression that Holden experiences. He carries this with him throughout his life. He must have been very close to Allie for him to act in the ways he did after the trauma occurred.
2. Constant Change
2.1. "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."
2.1.1. With Holden moving around to different schools, he is immune to the idea that he will never achieve as much as his brothers did. However, he can only take so much of this constant change. Specifically, I noticed he has no where else to go and has no idea what else to do with himself.
2.2. "Well. . . they'll be pretty irritated about it," I said. "They really will. This is about the fourth school I've gone to." I shook my head. I shake my head quite a lot. "Boy!" I said. I also say "Boy!" quite a lot."
2.2.1. As I mentioned above, Holden is consistently telling the reader, as well as other characters, that it really isn't a big deal that he isn't doing well in school. But, he doesn't notice how much it has affected him until the middle of the book when he starts wasting himself on cigarettes and sleep deprivation.
3. Depressed
3.1. "One thing about packing depressed me a little. I had to pack these brand-new ice skates my mother had practically just sent me a couple of days before. That depressed me. I could see my mother going in Spaulding's and asking the salesman a million dopy [sic] questions—and here I was getting the ax again. It made me feel pretty sad. She bought me the wrong kind of skates—I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey—but it made me sad anyway. Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad."
3.1.1. He is constantly mentioning that he is depressed to the reader but he is unable to bring it up in a conversation to another character. He feels that he is not relate-able but many reading this book can definitely say that they feel this way or have felt the pain this Holden experiences.
3.1.1.1. ences.
3.2. "Everybody was asleep or out or home for the weekend, and it was very, very quiet and depressing in the corridor. All of a sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey – right that same night and all. I mean not wait till Wednesday or anything. I just didn't want to hang around any more. It made me too sad and lonesome. Besides, I sort of needed a little vacation. My nerves were shot. They really were."
3.2.1. Holden believes that the atmosphere at the school makes it very overwhelming and sad for him to even withstand. I think a lot of people get depressed for this reason just by sitting someplace that you feel uncomfortable. I know at my grandparents I feel a sense of loneliness just by sitting and watching T.V. with them. I cannot imagine what it would be like to just experience the same motions everyday and not knowing what else to do with your life except suffer.
4. Neglected
4.1. "I mean that's all I told D.B. about, and he's my brother and all. He's in Hollywood."
4.1.1. Holden is longing for attention that his brother D.B. has. I'm guessing his parents are so proud of D.B. because he made it so far. I know my parents would be for my older brother because he knows the path he is going into for college. I compared myself to Holden because we both have no future that we can at least envision ourselves doing yet.
4.2. "He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class. And they weren't just shooting the crap. "
4.2.1. Allie was always that perfect person in Holden's life. Reading this, I think Holden always looked up to his brother for academic guidance. His mom must have raged about Allie to other people and how well he is doing in school and completely disregarded Holden.
5. Isolation
5.1. "I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. You could hear them all yelling."
5.1.1. He is always distancing himself away from other students at Pencey. Holden doesn't seem to be exited school events that occur and is always longing for a companion that will just listen to him.
5.2. "The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up."
5.2.1. Again, Holden feels as if he has so many "friends" ,however, he cannot figure which one would go out of his/her way to help him through this tough time. Even if they hadn't known he was struggling, someone he can rely on just to have fun with and not to feel bad for him.