Death & depression in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in The Rye and Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on The Western Front

The present paper can be seen as an attempt in the search for the themes of depression and death in Jerome David Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. It focuses on the themes of depression and death and the impact of depression and death on both protagonists of the two novels: Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye and Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front. The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most debatable stories in America. Also, it refers to many complicated topics, namely guiltlessness, identification, depression, disappearance, death, and relationship. The Catcher in the Rye is considered to be semi-autobiographical because there are similarities between the protagonist Holden Caulfield and Salinger's early life. For example, both Salinger and Holden Caulfield were transferred from preparatory school to another preparatory school and also both of them were intimidated in the army school. The novel describes Holden Caulfield as manic-depressive. On the other hand, All Quiet on the Western Front by German writer Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of a group classmate who is enlisted in the Germany army throughout World War One. It moves us through the stressed and frightened lifetime of Paul Baumer, the protagonist of the novel, who is enlisted in the Germany army during World War One. Besides, the concept of death has been taken into consideration in three religions such as Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. Also, some philosopher's ideas about death, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Albert Schweitzer, and George Bernard Shaw are discussed. The study, in general, is divided into three chapters: the first chapter includes the definition of death and depression, and symptoms of IX depression, and an analysis of the concepts of death in Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. The second chapter compares All Quiet on the Western Front with The Catcher in the Rye in terms of depression and death as depicted in the final chapter as the conclusion.