Holden Caulfield, The main character in Catcher In The Rye , is a young depressed teenager going through a very tough time in his life. He lost his brother a few years ago but still feels the lasting sadness of his death. Similar to the Ted Talk, Andrew Solomon had similar struggles. Back in 1991, Solomon’s mother died and a relationship ended, but the effects of both kicked in 1994 when Andrew “found himself losing interest in Everything”. One day he found himself lying in bed for 4 hours, staring at the phone. He knew he was in trouble. After that, he went into therapy and medications to better himself, mentally.
This Ted Talks relates to Holden’s battle with his brother’s death. If Holden’s brother never died, He would be a different teenager. For Holden, he doesn’t feel like he will ever get out of what he is feeling, but the Ted Talk shows that it gets better. Countless stories were shared of people’s battle with depression and every one of them ended happily for the person. At the beginning of the book, Holden shares that he is writing this in a mental hospital. We can infer Holden has finally gotten help for his illness and is starting his process to a better life. An important quote said several times in the talk is “The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality.” This is important for Holden because he was always trying to make himself happy. Some examples are when he asked Sally to marry him, hoping this would make him feel normal and happy. Another example is going to New York and escaping his depressing life at Pencey Prep. Holden was aiming for happiness to triumph is depression, but needed to find the strength to do the things he had to. |
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