Holden’s Breakdown 10/1/99 “It’s not the last straw which broke the camel’s back.” In J.D. Salanger’s, Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has many mental breakdowns. Though it may not have been one solitary event that pushed him off the edge, the one thing that started the whole ordeal was his brother Allie’s death. ”He’s dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in …showed first 75 words of 1019 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1019 total…he knew the assignment was to write about a room or place. His desire is not to work hard to get a job and a girlfriend like so many boys his age is, but to become the “catcher in the rye”, and abandon all responsibilities that goes along with living in the real world. Because of Allie’s death, Holden’s mental breakdown occurs, and he is not able to live a normal teenage life.