Acknowledgements致謝

 

     Upon the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my hearty appreciation to all those who have granted me invaluable help.
本dissertation完成后，我想對所有在寫作這篇人物故事分析的dissertation中給予我寶貴的幫助的這些人表示衷心的感謝。

     First, I am deeply indebted to Ms. Dai Xuefang, my supervisor, for her engagement and guidance and help while this paper was being written.

     I should also convey my sincere gratitude to my classmates, Miss Tang Yufang, Miss Lu Danping, Mr. Yu Lei and especially Miss Pang Bo, for their warm support to this paper.

     Last but not least, special thanks should also go to my parents, without whose support I should never have fulfilled my studies in this university.http://ukthesis.org/jyx/

 

Abstract摘要

 

     

    J. D. Salinger is an influential writer in the post-war American literature. The Catcher in the Rye, the only novel of J. D. Salinger, experienced a long time to get its fame.J. D. 塞林格是第二次世界大戰以后在美國文學中頗具影響力的一名作家。《麥田里的守望者》是塞林格唯一的一部小說，在經歷長久的爭議之后得到社會的肯定。

In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger depicted the struggle of the protagonist Holden in the adults’ world. This thesis begins with a brief introduction to the author and the novel, and then analyzes the conflicts from three main perspectives—the conflicts within Holden himself, the conflicts with the adult world, and the conflicts with the social reality of that time, to reveal the inevitability of his tragedy and its social significance.

 

Key words: Holden, conflicts, reality
關鍵詞：霍爾頓；沖突；現實

Contents

 

1. Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3

2.1 Conflicts within Holden himself----------------------------------------------------------3 

2.1.1 Id vs. superego----------------------------------------------------------------------------3

2.1.2 A rebel vs. a catcher-----------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.2 Conflicts with the adult world-------------------------------------------------------------5

2.2.1 Conflicts with the school education-----------------------------------------------------5

2.2.2 Conflicts with the family ----------------------------------------------------------------7#p#分頁標題#e#

2.3 Conflicts with the social reality of that time--------------------------------------------9

3. Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10

 

Works Cited-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Bibliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

On the Conflicts Reflected in the Character of Holden in

The Catcher in the Rye

 

Introduction介紹

J. D. Salinger（1919—2010）was an outstanding author in the post-World War II American literature.  JD塞林格（1919 - 2010）是在二戰后美國文壇的一位杰出的作家。s the representative work of Salinger，The Catcher in the Rye is an excellent fiction which makes him gain a reputation in the literary world, and makes him one of the most important novelists in the United States after World War II.

J. D. Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York City on January 1, 1919. His father was a Jewish importer and his mother a Scotch-Irish Christian. When he was thirteen, his parents enrolled him in the Mcburney School, but he flunked out within one year. When he was fifteen, he was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania where he began to write short stories. Actually this school is the prototype for Pencey Prey School in The Catcher in the Rye. He graduated from Valley Forge in 1936 and attended a number of colleges, including Colombia University, where Salinger enrolled in a short story writing class offered by Whit Burnet, editor of the literary magazine Story. Salinger had his first story published in 1940. In 1942 he was drafted into the army, where he was trained for counterintelligence. Although his career as a writer was interrupted by World War Two, Salinger resumed his writing career primarily for The New Yorker magazine after returning from service in the U.S. army in 1946. In 1951, Salinger published his only novel The Catcher in the Rye, for which he is best known.

Actually J. D. Salinger was more a writer than a novelist, for he wrote scores of short stories but only one novel. 事實上，JD塞林格作家寫手的身份甚至高過于一個小說家，他寫了幾十個短篇故事，但只有一個是新穎的人物故事。Some of the stories were compiled into collections, including Nine Stories( 1953), Franny and Zooey( 1961) and Raise High the Roof Beam( 1955), Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction（1963）. Others were never officially published even when he got a lot of fame after the success of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. As soon as The Catcher in the Rye was published, it caused a sensation. First published in mid-July in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye soon reached the fourth place on the New York Times best-seller list. In the next ten years, over three million copies were sold. In January of 1960, almost ten years after its publication, the novel which illustrated the disillusion and depression of a sixteen-year-old boy reappeared on the New York Times best-seller list. The novel was included on Time’s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.#p#分頁標題#e#

The Catcher in the Rye begins with Holden being expelled from Pencey for academic failure. After an unpleasant evening with his self-satisfied roommate Stradlater and their pimply neighbor Ackley, he decided to leave Pencey for good and spent a few days alone in New York City, where he struggled to survive in the adult world. He felt depressed, when he thought of his younger brother Allie’s death. He wanted to see his sister Phoebe and his girlfriend Jane Gallagher. He finally decided to sneak back to his parents’ apartment to talk to his sister Phoebe. He borrowed some money from her to buy the food for the duck in the park, and then he went to ask his former teacher Mr. Antolini for help. But he thought Mr Antolini was making a homosexual advance toward him, so Holden wandered aimlessly in the streets, looking at the innocent children. He tried to leave New York City and went to the west. But when his sister wanted to go with him, he hesitated and went back home to protect her from the ugly world. 但是，當他的姐姐想和他一起去，他猶豫了一下，又回到家里，以避免姐姐接觸到丑陋的世界。

The novel not only is a vivid and detailed depiction of the status of a middle-class child of boredom, loneliness and cynical spiritual world, but also criticizes the hypocrisy of the adult community and affectation. Holden is a typical young person of complex and contradictory personality. He has the pursuit of a better life and the lofty ideals of childlike innocence. Through Holden’s experiences in New York City, the novel reveals the conflicts between Holden and the adult world. 

This thesis intends to analyze the conflicts in The Catcher in the Rye from three main aspects—the conflicts within Holden himself, the conflicts with the adult world, the conflicts with the reality of that time.

 

2. Demonstration

2. 1Conflicts within Holden himself

2. 1. 1 Id vs. superego

In The Catcher in the Rye, with the development of Holden’s adventure, Holden becomes more and more aware of the phoniness and indifference among the common people in the society. The problems that Holden faces are mainly psychological ones. So the psychoanalysis aided by Sigmund Freudian psychological theory may be helpful in the analysis of Holden’s behavior. 

According to Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality, the id is the personality component made up of unconscious urges, needs, and desires. The id is mainly composed of sexual desire and aggression.根據弗洛伊德的人格理論，其ID所要表現的個性成分是無意識的欲望，需求，和欲望。主要的人格組成是性欲和侵略。 There is no exception that Holden’s id is actually his sexual desire. “When Holden was in Edmont Hotel, he saw one gray-haired guy who put on women’s clothes and walk the way a woman does, smoking in a cigarette and looking at himself in the mirror” (Salinger 282). In addition, he sees a man and woman squirting water out of their mouth at each other in hysterics. Although the scene impresses Holden as perverted at first, it somewhat fascinates him. Holden’s id is revealed when he accepts without hesitation the Ponce Maurice’s proposition to send a girl to him. His id is driving him nowhere as long as there is an opportunity to relieve it. On the other hand, he is controlled by the superego. He is nervous for the release of sexual desire and he refuses to have a sexual relationship with the prostitutes at last.#p#分頁標題#e#

Sigmund Freud’s theory implies that the superego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations. 弗洛伊德的理論意味著，超越自我是一個象征性的內在家長性權威和文化法規的縮影。The superego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality. The superego functions as the justice system inside and the judge to tell right from wrong. In the novel, Holden succeeds in resisting the temptation to have a sexual relationship with the prostitutes. In his unconscious superego, sex is brutal, inhuman and immoral. So Holden turns to his former girlfriend Sally Hayes, and wants to marry her. He thinks if he marries her, the sexual relationship between them will be moral and acceptable.他認為，如果他娶了她，他們之間發生性關系是道德的和可以接受的。

But Sally refuses and asks him to enter the mainstream of the society. 但莎莉拒絕，并要求他進入主流社會。Holden would not mind doing very crumby stuff and therefore sees himself as the biggest sex maniac. And yet, at the same time, Holden does not “like the idea” (Salinger 276) and thinks it stinks for Holden’s superego functions to fight against his id. Under the control of his superego, Holden argues that one should not horse around with a girl if he does not like her at all. In consequences of the conflicts between id and superego, Holden is confused about sex. He wonders why “so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes” (Salinger 277) and acknowledges that “sex is something I really do not understand too hot.”(Salinger 277)