Teenage Depression
Sadness, anxiety, or a feeling of hopelessness
Use of alcohol or drugs and promiscuous sexual activity
Staying awake at night and sleeping during the day
Withdrawal from friends
Irresponsible behavior -- for example, forgetting obligations, being late for classes, skipping school
"What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probable would've done it it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd come over me as soon ass I landed" (Salinger 116-117)
His hallucination of seeing Allie when walking down the street. "Every time I'd get to the end of the block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him , 'Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie don't let me disappear. Allie don't let me disappear. Please, Allie.' (Salinger 218)
The frequent mention of the ducks, He wants to know whats going to happen to him now that he's been kicked out of school and as such he has nowhere to go, just like the ducks. "'Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?" "Where who goes?" "The ducks"' (Salinger 91)
Sleeping at Grand Central before being woken up by nuns
"I figured I'd sleep in that crazy waiting room where all the benches are." (Salinger 252)
Heading to Mr. Antolini late at night- "Mr. Antolini was very nice. He said I could come right over if I wanted to.
(Salinger 235)
Breaking all the windows in the house after Allie died "they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage the night he died." (Salinger 44)
His lack of care in his school life "Apparently before he phoned me he'd just had a long, rather harrowing letter from your latest headmaster, to the effect that you were making absolutely no effort at all.Cutting classes. Coming unprepared to all your classes" (Salinger 205)
Frequent smoking, "After Old Sunny was gone, I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of cigarettes" (Salinger 110)
His rendezvous with a prostitute. "I figured if she was a prostitute and all, I could get in some practice on her" (Salinger 103-104)
Him picking a fight with Sally while on a date "You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you wan to know the truth." I know i shouldn't have said that, but she was depressing the hell out of me". - (Salinger 133)
Him trying to fight Stradlater "He said Holden if I letcha up, willya keep your mouth shout?
Yes. He got off me "Your'e a dirty stupid sonuvabitch of a moron" I said." (Salinger 44)
His long long night on the town "So what I did was, I gave old Sally a buzz
"Sally is asleep, this is Sally's grandmother. Why are you calling at this hour, Holden? Do you know what time it is?" (Salinger 166)
Affection for drinking "I didn't want anybody to notice me or anything or ask me how old I was. But boy, I could hardly see straight. When I was really drunk, I started that stupid business with the bullets in my guts again." (Salinger 150)
Wanting to smoke on a non-smoking train "She looked all around. "I don't believe this is a smoker, Rudolf," she said. Rudolf. That killed me.
"That's all right. We can smoke till they start screaming at us," I said. She took a cigarette off me, and I gave her a light." (Salinger 62-63)
When Holden leaves the team equipment at the subway. " We'd gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with the McBurney School. Only we didn't have the meet. I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddamn subway. The team ostracized me the whole way back on the train. It was pretty funny in a way." (Salinger 3)