Catcher in the Rye: Holden’s Neurodivergence

 From the start it’s pretty clear to every reader that Holden Caufield is a bit different than everyone else. But why? Why does he view everyone as phony? Why doesn’t he try in school despite being smart? Why does he want to horse around so much?

The answer? Holden probably has ADHD, which in the 1940s was never diagnosed in children. The fact that he’s unable to understand himself through the lenses of diagnosis definitely doesn’t help with his utter disillusionment and depression. In some respects, I saw a lot of myself in him. When most people think of ADHD they only think of hyperactivity, but other major symptoms include stuff like anxiety, daydreaming as well as many comorbid disorders like depression.

One major aspect of Holden’s story is his refusal to do hardly any schoolwork and his subsequent failure at school. Holden never tries unless it’s English writing because it’s the one subject he genuinely enjoys and sees the point in. For that same reason, he’s able to write an entire, well crafted essay while Stradlater is out with Jane. For people with ADHD, it can be really hard to reshift focus from enjoyable things to boring things. Since Holden seems like a bit of an unreliable narrator, I wouldn’t be surprised if he revealed that he’s given up on school because he actually struggles with other subjects and is frustrated by that, which is a tangible reality far from his cool guy persona.

Outside of school, ADHD seems to affect Holden’s thinking in many other ways. At some points in the story, it really seems like he just can’t get something off his mind. This inability to redshift his focus in thought manifests itself in two notable forms, anxiety and daydreaming. For example, he gets really worked up by the idea that Stradlater’s going on a date with Jane. He wonders anxiously if he should go down to say hi and later seems to also have some intrusive thoughts about Stradlater giving Jane “the time.” He daydreams a few times throughout the book too, most notably in his frantic monologue toward Sally Hayes. The fact that he’s daydreaming out loud definitely makes her reaction worse, his ideas are extremely hopeful and idealistic. Soon enough, he realizes that he’s dropped his cool guy mask for a second and the situation quickly grows worse. 

Holden’s depression is definitely another core issue that causes him to act the way he does. Throughout the novel it seems like he’s constantly searching for happiness, but he never really finds it and that just throws him farther in the dumps. He does a lot of things impulsively too like tackling Stradlater, going out to bars, etc. just for the hell of it and with the hope it’ll make him even a bit happier. 

However, Holden’s never able to find happiness in his life at school and away from home. This constant searching is probably why he’s so obsessed with the idea of phoniness, because he can never act like himself around most people nor enjoy what they enjoy. The ending scene is the first time we see Holden happy and it’s quite eye opening. Perhaps it’s because he can be himself around Phoebe that he doesn’t see her as just another phony, she sees Holden for his true self and that’s why their brother-sister friendship is something he holds so dearly.

All in all, Holden seems like a really bright, caring kid deep down. However it doesn’t seem like he even understands himself because he doesn’t have the framework to do so, which makes me really sad. I can’t imagine growing up in a time when your mental difference wasn’t even defined.