Wednesday, February 3, 2016

What are 3 quotes from The Catcher in the Rye that suggest Holden has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

(Symptoms of PTSD: depression, sleeplessness, hypervigilance, weeping, negativity, self-isolation, attention deficit and trouble concentrating, exaggerated startle response, untrollable anger, recurrent invasive recollections of stressor events)


The books is full of examples; so naming three is easy.


First, there are two stressor events: Allie's death and the death of a classmate, Jame Castle, who leaped out a dorm window wearing the sweater Holden had loaned him.


Allie's death:



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. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that sumemr, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time...



Jame's Castle's death:



So Stabile, with about six other dirty bastards, went down to James Castle's room and went in and locked the goddam door and tried to make him take back what he said but he wouldn't do it. So they started in on him. I won't even tell you what they did to him--it too reulsive--but he still wuldn't tke it back, old James Castle. ...a skinny little weak-looking guy, with wrists about as big as pencils. ...Finally, what he did, instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window. I was in the shower and all, and even I could hear hm land outside. ...I ran downstairs too, and there was old James Castle, laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him."



On page three there's an example of attention deficit, when Holden leaves the equipment for the fencing team on the subway, resuliting in forfeiture of the match.



I was the goddam manager for the fencing team. Very big deal. We'd gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with McBurney School. Only, we didn't have the meet. I left all the foils and equipemnt and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my falult. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get otff. ...The whole team ostracized me teh whole way back ton the train.



In Chapter 6 there's an example of weeping: 



"I just lay theere on the floor for a while, and kept calling him a moron sonuvabitch. I was so mad, I was practicaly bawling."



Also Chapter 6, Holden becomes enraged over the prospect of Stradlater "giving the time" to Jane:



Give her the time in Ed Banky's goddam car?" My voice was shaking something awful.


"What a thing to say. Want me to wash your mouth out with soap?"


"Did you?"


"That's a professional secret, buddy."


This next part I don't remember so hot. All I know is I got up from the bed, like I was going down to the can or something, and then I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open. Only, I missed. ...Anyway, the next thing I knew I was on the godam floor and he was sitting on my chest,...


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