The Catcher in the Rye Theme of Madness

The big question in The Catcher in the Rye is whether or not the central character is crazy. The story begins with a seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield telling his own story of a year earlier, with mentions of his having come "out here" to "rest up." What is normal adolescent behavior, and what is psychotic? This novel explores that very question, but the conclusion is left up to the reader.

1. And now for the million-dollar question… Is Holden crazy? What specific actions of Holden's might indicate that he's deviated from normality?
2. Holden says right off the bat (while still at Pencey) that his "nerves [are] shot." Does this mean some sort of pacified madness is par for the Holden Caulfield course?
3. When Holden heads over to Mr. Spencer's house in Chapter One, he says, "It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road." What do you make of this, given Holden's climactic street-crossing episode in Chapter Twenty-Five? Does this mean that his "breakdown" (or "episode") was latent and therefore inevitable from the beginning?

While Holden can be considered crazy during his time in New York city, the presentation of his narrative suggests that by the time he's telling us the story, he's sane.

"Madness" is an irrelevant term in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden presents a world so absurd that his actions are neither crazy nor sane – they simply are.