Holden Caulfield's Narcissistic Personality Disorder

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger created the character of Holden Caulfield, an adolescent boy who is faced with the obstacles of both society and life as he struggles to find direction. In many respects, Holden seems not unlike the typical teenager: he is on a quest to discover his own unique identity and he longs for acceptance from his parents and peers.Yet unlike the typical teenager, Holden's mental state becomes decreasingly stable throughout the book and the audience learns that he has been admitted to a mental hospital. While it may appear that Holden Caulfield is plagued by a severe mental illness such as manic depressive disorder, the truth, however, is much more benign. The deterioration of his mental state is brought on by a compelling family tragedy which aggravates his existing anxiety and depression and, as a result, develops into narcissistic...
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