I believe that Holden Caufield should be in a hospital, at least for a short term stay. There are two main reasons that he should do this. The first is that it will help him get back on his feet and get all his school work under control. The second is that he will be able to talk to his parents more openly once he gets his problems out in the open where they can be seen and analyzed. Holden really needs to talk to his family about his troubles because that is the place where most of them originated.
Holden is a very troubled person. His one brother, Allie, who was two years younger, had died of leukemia. Holden really misses him. He also misses his little sister, Phoebe. He has had absent parents for most of his life. He has never had anyone to talk to or really get to know. Because of poor grades, he was changing schools all of the time. The continual changing from school to school compounded the problem. There was not enough opportunity for developing friendships.
I also think that his being alone all of the time had aused him to make up excuses for all of his downfalls. I believe that he resents money because his parents were fairly rich; they thought that the only proper thing for well-to-do people was to send their kids to private schools. That is where I think that he gets the idea of phonies. His parents really dont have an abundance of money; they just pretend that they do. Holden not only has to get straight with his family but also with his school work by realizing its importance.
He may hate material things, but I think that he would ike a warm house in the winter and a nice umbrella in the rain, so I hope that he can see that he will have to work hard all of his life just to have a comfortable way of living. He may not realize it now, but he is capable of finding a job that pays the bills and satisfies his urge to help children. I can really see Holden as an elementary school teacher. It has everything that he wants: children, being able to protect them, and, of course, the knowledge that he is doing it to help them and not for the money.
I really do think that Holden should be in a hospital just for awhile. He doesnt need extreme care, but he does need a place where he can talk all about his problems and get things off his chest. He needs to learn to be truthful with himself and get his feelings and thoughts organized. Maybe being in the hospital will help his parents see that they really need to spend more time with him. There really is no down side to him being in the hospital, and that is why I am all for it.
