Although he has been dead for about three years, Allie is a mystic presence in the novel. Holden thinks of him often and speaks to him when things are darkest in his life. Allie is associated with the theme of death, but his role is not that simple. He also represents hope and the gifted innocence of childhood, which is tenuous and sometimes short-lived. Holden clearly loves his brother. Only two years apart in age, they were close friends.
Allie died of leukemia at the Caulfields' summer home in Maine on July 18, 1946. He was 11 years old; Holden was 13. Holden, distraught over the loss of his brother, broke his hand punching the windows out of the garage of their summer home. Holden missed Allie's funeral because he was in the hospital, apparently for psychiatric evaluation as well as for attention to his hand. Depending on the date of Holden's birthday and his precision with numbers, that was about four years before Holden tells the story (at age 17) from the sanitarium in California and perhaps three and a half years before Holden (age 16) leaves Pencey. Allie was the most intelligent as well as the "nicest" member of the family. His connection to Holden was intense. The older brother could sense when Allie was in the vicinity, although he credits Allie's red hair for that. Holden would get a hunch that Allie was there; when he turned around, there Allie was.
