Dealing with Death

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the idea of death is very prevalent. Their are many deaths that occur or that are talked about throughout the course of the novel. But, there is one death in particular that has a lasting impact throughout the novel. The death of Holden's brother Allie is talked about greatly. Dealing with his death was a major part of the novel. Many people deal with death in different ways. Some people like to get rid of things that remind them of those who have passed in order to grief, others hold onto the things that remind us of them. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden hold on to what reminds him of his brother. He keeps Allie's mitt. Not only is the mitt important to him because it was physically his brother's but it also had poems on it that allowed him to feel his presence when he was reading them. At one point in the novel, Phoebe and Holden get into a disagreement over their brother Allie. Holden begins talking about how even though Allie is gone that he still loves him. He says "Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake--especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all" (Salinger, 171). I think that Salinger was trying to make a point to society when he wrote this. I think that we should remember the good in those who have passed and how they have positively impacted us. Gone but not forgotten is the way that we should think about death in our society today, just as Holden did in The Catcher in the Rye.