4。2 Struggle between the Id and Superego, Childhood and Adult’s World 7

5 Three Main Reasons of His Uncoordinated Personality 8

5。1 Family— Parents Spent Little Time with Him and Allie Died too Early。 8

5。2 School—Indecent Teachers and Students 8

5。3 Society— Materialistic Society Puts much Pressure on Holden’s Innocence。 9

Conclusion 10

References 11

1 Introduction

    The Catcher in the Rye, written by the famous writer J。 D。 Salinger, is regarded as the American typical modern Bildungsroman in twenties century which leads the new tide in American literature。 The book review of New York Times had once written that reading The Catcher in the Rye is as important as the approval of advisor in America。 The literature critic Granville said: “I believe millions of American teenagers think that they are closer to J。 D。 Salinger than any other writers”。 Through the later fifties and on into the sixties, Catcher engaged academic critics, and it still does。 By 1963 Warren French supposed that critics of Catcher are more than any other contemporary novel。 论文网

In China, there are usually three different understandings of this novel。 First, it is a realistic work which criticizes the American society。 For example, Professor Liu Xiangqing had wrote The Rebellious Personality of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye which published in The World Literature Criticism in 2013。 The article criticized the current American society by exploring the behaviors and causes of Holden Caulfield’s rebellious personality。 Second, it is a masterpiece of teenagers’ psychological condition in 50s。 In 2010, a thesis for M。 A。 degree named A Psychoanalytic Study of Holden in The Catcher in the Rye from a Freudian Perspective from HIT had discussed Holden’s personality structure and his search for Identity。 Third, it is a classic work of “the lost generation”。文献综述

Before the novel was published in 1951, July 16th in America, there are a lot of comments about it and most of them are criticisms like John Aldridge and Maxwell Geismar all doubted the value of the novel。 It was not until 1950s that the status of J。 D。 Salinger was redefined, and in 1963, the critics Warren French said that the novel was the most classic work at that time。 From 60s to 70s, the key points of comments for this novel is the psychology analysis。 And from 80s to now, the research for this novel almost has covered every range like society, history, religion and so on。 There are many people touching upon psychology analysis of this novel like David Burrow had discussed the unconsciousness of Holden and thought the death of Allie made him always relate experience with death。 Besides, James M。 Mellard had analyzed Holden’s behavior in the vision of Jacques Lacan’s theory of psychology analysis, and discovered that Holden had gained a new self after the depression and alienation。

    Many writers have discussed the psychological contradiction of Holden and they usually blame this on the alienation of society, family or school。 However, I think there is no direct relation between them and there is supposed to be a bridge to connect these two parts which is the instable personality of Holden。 The external factors influence the development of personality and then the ambivalence comes into being which also brings so much pain。 In this thesis, it is those external factors that lead to the instability of personality which causes the psychological contradiction。 And it also makes a difference when the contradiction is shown in different people whom he likes and detests。