英語語言文學(xué)畢業(yè)論文

1、<p><b>　　西南大學(xué)育才學(xué)院</b></p><p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)論文</b></p><p>　　An Analysis of Holden in the Catcher in the Rye</p><p><b>　　二零一一年五月</b></p><

2、;p><b>　　Outline</b></p><p>　　Ⅰ.Introduction</p><p>　?、?The Hypocritical World in Holden’s Eyes</p><p>　　A.Hypocritical World</p><p>　　1.A Byword of S

3、ociety—Phony</p><p>　　2.Holden’s Sensitivity to Phony</p><p>　　B.A Liar in the Hypocritical World</p><p>　?、?A Rebel Resenting the World</p><p>　　A.A Rebel against

4、Mundane Affairs</p><p>　　1.A Rebel against the School</p><p>　　2.A Symbol for the Rebel—Red Hunting Cap</p><p>　　B.Evading in the Revolt</p><p>　　C.Growing in the R

5、evolt</p><p>　　Ⅳ.Holden—the Innocent image in The Catcher in the Rye</p><p>　　A.Holden—A Young Man Loving Pure Childhood Time</p><p>　　B.Holden―A Patron God for Children</p>

6、;<p>　　1.The Ideal Eden</p><p>　　2.A Catcher</p><p>　　Ⅴ.Conclusion</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　Holden Caulfield is the young leading charact

7、er in The Catcher in the Rye with Salinger’s celebrated works which was praised in the American literary arena. He was the representative of US youth’s statue at that time to some extent. His individual character of cyni

8、cism and kind-heartedness deeply shocked generations of American readers.</p><p>　　Holden is a man of marked individuality. The key point what this paper analyzes is his personal characters. Holden lives in

9、the society with contradictions. “Phony”, probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye, is one of Holden’s favorite concepts. It is his catcher—all for describing hypocrisy and ugliness that encounters in

10、the world around him. As a rebel, he is struggling with the world. Meanwhile he is in deep love with purity of his childhood and innocence of children. More</p><p>　　Through a in-depth study on?the personali

11、ty of the leading character, this paper helps the readers understand the classical figure of Holden, the reality of American society after World War Ⅱand the profound significance of this work.</p><p>　　An A

12、nalysis of Holden in the Catcher in the Rye</p><p>　　Jerome David Salinger is born in New York City, on January1st, 1916. He grew up in Newswire and later attended three colleges. As early as the age of fift

13、een he began writing. When he was twenty one he published his first short story. After service as an infantry sergeant in Europe during World War Ⅱ he wrote more stories, most of which were published in Collier’s, Saturd

14、ay Evening Post collected papers and other journals. Salinger, a man of mystery and conscientiousness, aliens from all things </p><p>　　With the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, J. D. Salinger

15、gained almost an immediate acceptance as being among the most significant post-World War Ⅱ American novelists. In The Catcher in the Rye, a 16-year-old middle-school student, Holden, was dismissed by Pencey School for th

16、e fourth time. Then he chose to be a tramp. The three days’ vagrant life vividly reflects his experiences and feelings. It manifests the American young people’s depressed and indecisive psychology. And also, i</p>

17、<p>　　This paper focuses on the study of protagonist “Holden”, especially trying to further elaborate and analyze his classical image on the basis of his rebellious and innocent spirit. It helps readers to have a b

18、etter understanding of the growing pain of this cynical and precocious boy. Meanwhile, it excavates the ideology and connotation of this classical work. </p><p>　　The society where Holden lives in is complex

19、 and modern. It is no longer the society which Thoreau or Adams lived in. People are surrounded by the hypocritical, indifferent, lowly and degenerated conditions. The Catcher in the Rye not only reveals the leading char

20、acter’s living conditions, furthermore it demonstrates the so-called “the adult world” that makes someone to be afraid or to be sick.</p><p>　　In the novel, hypocritical, ugly scenes are displayed in every a

21、spect. The advertisement for Pencey School would disturb you; the picture of horse jumping over fence gives, in his opinion, a false image of the school. In Holden’s judgment, Pencey is a home for dishonest, spoiled chil

22、dren, and not for idealized horsemen-to-be.</p><p>　　The great majority of movies—foreign, as well as American—create an unreal world that Holden finds unacceptable. The story of the particular movies recoun

23、ted by Holden is a glorification of material success in typical soap opera fashion. False sorrows and happy endings are strewn about with a lavish hand.</p><p>　　Meanwhile, mass media is always glorifying th

24、e sensational and ugly things. All of the people surround him don’t do serious affairs. Instead, they are always talking about money, gamble, women, swindle and so on. In the society, people are willing to seek “conspicu

25、ous consumption”. The novel illustrates the entire process of jockeying for a superior materialistic image in our society. It is not actually necessary to own things; the appearance of ownership suffices. People who coul

26、d not afford Ce</p><p>　　Everything is hypocritical in the eyes of Holden who is pursuing natural innocence. He detests it very much.</p><p>　　We find that one of the most often-used words in Ho

27、lden’s lexicon is “phony”. It appears in the entire book more than 40 times. And also it is the most sensitive word for protagonist. He is constantly detecting sham motives in the people around him. At the beginning of t

28、he novel, the author tells the main reason why Holden left Elkton Hills middle school. It is said that “Because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this

29、headmaste</p><p>　　Through reading more and more chapters, we get deeper understanding of “phony”. The situation in Pencey School is the same as Elkton Hills middle school. Pencey declares that it has cultiv

30、ated innumerable outstanding and intelligent youths from 1888. The big words for Holden are of no use whatsoever. Strictly speaking, they are for the birds. “They don’t do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at

31、any other school.”○2 (The Catcher in the rye, 2) In fact in anywhere persons and the matter</p><p>　　As a typical rebel, Holden is sensitive to all hypocritical people and phony matters. He hates movies mor

32、e than others. He regards his Brother D. B.’s screen play as degeneration. Because the movie has congested the baseless and irrational concoctions plot .The characters are all full of prunes and prism. In New York’s barr

33、oom, an old black man named Ernie is always playing the piano. Holden thinks the old man is in low standard when playing the piano. To Holden, the old man is merely made cleve</p><p>　　Especially the plot th

34、at disgusts protagonist deeply is the scene when he has a date with his girlfriend. When he watches a play with Sally, he smokes cigarettes outside and he sees some audience taking rest outside the field after the firs

35、t curtain. They just talk something senseless but it sounds that they are interested in it. Holden feels very sick about the situation. Holden thinks, “What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life

36、, everybody smoking their ears off and</p><p>　　Holden’s reaction for hypocrites is up to some degree of subtle. For instance when he just arrives at Edmont hotel, the waiter who guides him to enter the room

37、 was a 65 years old man. He considers that “He was one of those bald guys that comb all their hair over from the side to cover up the baldness.” ○⑧（The Catcher in the rye，61） It also makes Holden losing heart on such a w

38、orthless detail. He thinks it is one kind of varnish or a sort of hypocritical actually. When seeing the old man, Holden </p><p>　　Perhaps the readers would recognize the contradictory characteristics about

39、Holden. On the one hand, he detests dishonest very much. Ironically, on the other hand, he usually uses fabricated lies to others. It is true that in the novel, this point manifests very prominent. Holden explains, “I’m

40、the most terrific liar you ever saw your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrib</p><

41、p>　　Holden’s counterfeit words and deeds are incompatible with a well-disposed pursuing person. But the contradiction in his disposition is real and credible actually. Holden tells lies in order to escape painfully em

42、barrassing situation, at times, but more often his lies are completely purposeless. He just tells lies without any bad intention. In the novel, Holden meets with different people who lead him into the perpetration of dif

43、ferent tangled skein of lies. Part of the psychological justificati</p><p>　　Through the novel we know, the society which Holden lives in requires high record of formal schooling of people. Everybody has to

44、seek knowledge in order to become an outstanding person. But he looks down upon people around him. For example his father, his brother and so on. It is said that “The father who is making a lot of dough and plays golf an

45、d plays bridge and buys cars and drinks Martinis and looks like a hot-shot.”○11（The Catcher in the rye，172）His talent brother, D. B, who would rather </p><p>　　At the beginning of the novel Holden is kicked

46、out of Pencey failing 4 out of 5 courses. But he hasn’t left the school in formulate time, instead, he rebels against the school by his own way. That is to say, he leaves school ahead of time, namely, three days. In his

47、 own initiative, he leaves school without outside impetus. He isn’t willing to study hard, which exactly expresses the rebellion against the US educational system.</p><p>　　The revolt spirit is also reflecte

48、d in details in the novel. Holden visits his teacher Mr. Antolini. The kindhearted teacher gives him the constructive and natural suggestions rather than self-devastation suggestion—“The mark of the immature man is that

49、he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”○12（The Catcher in the rye，188）What is Holden’s response to the sincere advice? His answer is as if either within o

50、ur expectation or not. He </p><p>　　Additionally, he displays the revolt mood through the words of counter-legitimate and counter-cultured. For instance, it appears frequently in his words “damn, goddamn, as

51、s, old and so on.” These words appear with extremely high frequency and the fast speed. It seems as if that Holden is degenerating. The words inform that Holden has contaminated the abuse involuntarily. But behind those

52、words, what are the precisely hiding meanings as Holden’s attitude towards everything? He curses “damn chill;</p><p>　　In the novel, the red hunter hat is a typical symbol passing through the entire work. Th

53、e hunting cap represents Holden’s passive resistance to many unpleasant aspects of life. He buys it when his schoolmates ostracize him and he wears it whenever he wants to retreat from unpleasant happenings.</p>&

54、lt;p>　　In Holden’s dormitory, his hunter hat means unique meaning. It is said that, “I swung the old peak way around to the back very corny I admit but I liked it they way. I looked good in it that way.”○13 （The Catch

55、er in the rye，45）After fighting with Stradlater, he has demonstrated the behavior out of the ordinary once again. He says, “I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I liked it ...”○14 （The Catcher

56、 in the rye，45）He puts on the hunter hat once again at the time of lea</p><p>　　From all above, his revolt nearly has no also rational analysis of thought to some extent. Therefore, the rebellious behavior h

57、as the psychological characteristics with seditions and this is a revolt of general behavior. Undoubtedly, this rebellious behavior has unique meaning at that time inevitably.</p><p>　　Thus, facing with the

58、ugly social reality that influenced by what he sees and hears, Holden chooses to rebel without the least hesitation. However, the revolt strength is tiny and the revolt process is difficult and slow. He is just like fall

59、ing into mire inescapably. And each revolt makes him fall into “mire” deeper and gradually he is swallowed by the “mire” finally. </p><p>　　In the novel, Holden strolls three days and nights and witnesses th

60、e exterior adult world full of grotesque, gaudy, false and ugly. In his eyes, he is sensitive to the world and isn’t identified himself with it. He wants to get rid of lonely and sought understandings in the bustling and

61、 clamorous world. So he attempts to communicate with other people according to adult’s patterns. It’s true that he is longing for understanding and love. But like any other child, and like many an adult too, Holde</p&

62、gt;<p>　　Holden frequently gets in and out many kinds of public places, such as the bar, the theater, the cinema, the park, and the museum. He invites the persons with telephone, regardless of the taxi driver or a

63、 stranger in the restroom. But to his pity, the result is either a rejection or having no things in common. Here is an example chosen from The Catcher in the Rye. After Holden leaves his home, the first person he meets i

64、s Mrs. Morrow–a schoolmate’s mother, although he scatters her by lies and ma</p><p>　　Therefore, we can see that the choice he makes is still closely connected together with life and human society, although

65、he feels despaired in the reality. On this point, we know that he accepts and comprehends the reality. As to him, to evade is unrealistic in that society. He chooses to walk to a distant place silently. He has no alterna

66、tive except to compromise. Maybe it is an only inevitable choice for him.</p><p>　　In fact, to fly far and high isn’t Holden’s ultimate choice. He has to struggle with hardship between the ideal and reality

67、in three days in order to find somewhere to sojourn. However after the setbacks one after another, he finally realizes his effort has no avail. Such the place doesn’t exist in fact. The reviewer Wang Lihong puts it by be

68、st saying, “There are only two roads faced with Holden, to accept the reality or to enter the mental hospital. He has chosen the former in front of the unch</p><p>　　In the novel, J.D has molded two lovable

69、angelic characters—Holden and his younger sister Phoebe. They are kind-hearted, honest and courageous. They both have compassion and rebellious spirit especially. They abandon the common customs of world’s outlook, and g

70、radually come into being their own ideas. Phoebe is the only good partner to whom Holden could pour out his thought. The lovable and understandable sister awakens Holden’s lonely and rebellious heart as well as the new v

71、iew of ideas about </p><p>　　Anyhow, Holden realizes that he must humanize himself and escape to a private solitude. There is no neutral ground and there is no half-way house. He must learn how to live of hi

72、s own in the world. </p><p>　　From?the novel?we may see, Holden hates hypocritical society and also he is?sentimentally attached to the nature along with the pure childhood time.</p><p>　　As far

73、 as purity is concerned, we could naturally think of pure world. In the novel, the pure world is manifested by some representative personages. The first is his younger brother, Alley, who died many years ago.?Holden like

74、s him, not only?because of the blood relationship,?but also for Alley’s chastity and intelligence. Holden recalls that?he sleeps in the garage that very evening when Alley dies. So?he insists that he is responsible for h

75、is brother’s death. As a result of the extremely sorro</p><p>　　When it comes to Phoebe,?Holden spares no efforts expressing his care for her.?He always wants to guard and protect her?innocent and artless mi

76、nd. When he is overwhelmed by the?hypocritical people and the society, and even when he is almost despaired with all the things, he slips into Phoebe’s room,?he says, just being afraid?of having?no chance to see her befo

77、re he dies. When he sets firm resolve to go to the West, he bids farewell to his sister Phoebe. He simply goes?crazy while seeing the obs</p><p>　　Holden also feels the little girl who wears the roller skate

78、s is extremely lovable when running into troublesome business. “Lovable” may regard as the antonym of “hypocritical” which he commonly uses?to describe the world. Here,?with regard to” lovable”, its?meaning covers the me

79、rits just as honesty,?naive, all of that manifested by the children. Holden also thinks?the two nuns he meets are very good, because they are different from his own aunts who could not make the good?all along?but?the nun

80、</p><p>　　Holden, the insignificant individual, he feels tired and depressed about the corruption and phoniness when struggling against the sullied world. He is eager to escape to an “innocent and authentic

81、Eden”, where he can seek a pure and sincere life.</p><p>　　In Holden’s eyes, the ideal Eden is the naive world of children. Holden sees the world as an evil, cruel place where everyone feels disgusted. So he

82、 retreats away from hypocritical world and people and he is resigned to suffer from loneliness. In contrast to the falsehood and evil of the adult world, the simple nature of children brings him a lot of joy and consolat

83、ion. His unity with children and his dream about childhood turns to be a heaven which is absolutely necessary in his life. The world</p><p>　　The ideal Eden urges Holden to take on a role of protector for ch

84、ildren. Since, Holden reasons, there is no fulfillment in the adult world, since all it can offer man is frustration or corruption, the only worthwhile task to which he can devote himself is that of the protector who sto

85、ps children before they enter the world of destruction and phoniness and keeps them in a state of arrested innocence. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and al</

86、p><p>　　It is certainty that the ideal Eden is equally to perfect Holy Land. It is for Holden, especially a pure soul’s Eden for human beings.</p><p>　　The author is demanding that Holden should re

87、-examine himself and the values of his life. At last, Holden begins to formulate his thoughts—a bit incoherently, it is true—about what he wants to do with his life. He wants to be the “catcher”—guardian of innocence and

88、 the protector of children. He wants to save innocent children from falling into the abyss of adult corruption. He yearns for philosophical significance in his life—to have a great moral purpose above and beyond practice

89、 truths. The mi</p><p>　　We?may say that in The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger entrusts Holden?with the lofty ideal in pursuit of the universal love and spirit. In the novel, he is not merely?one of the revolt

90、s giving complaints?about everything around him, but?also as a “Catcher” protecting the children even the nice world. Moreover, the purity?which the children possess is one of the most precious moral excellences of human

91、 beings.?And the “Catcher” is just?the person who has the responsibility actually needs absorbed a</p><p>　　In the Catcher in the rye, Salinger presents us a sensitive, rebellious and very self-conscious ado

92、lescent who seek his own identity in relation to an outside world with which he find himself more or less at odds. Through the study and analysis of Holden, we can see that, his initiation has to experience an arduous an

93、d painful struggle to achieve some measure of integration with the society.</p><p>　　With relation to the plots of the novel, firstly, he stands as a rebel of society, taking a stance against hypocrisy, obsc

94、enity and integrity. He feels tired and depressed about the corruption and phonies. In his rebellion against the so-established values of the adult world, he learns the true significance of the life. As a typical youth,

95、who carries the burden of generosity, love and sensitive feeling in the modern world, Holden, after all, will eventually conform to “phoniness” through the pa</p><p>　　In a word, Holden Caulfield is the livi

96、ng example reflecting?the features of the?times. Meanwhile, he is the?representative of the contemporary American youth. Whether then or now, his typical image?calls for deep thought.</p><p>　　Work Cited<

97、/p><p>　　Baumbach, Jonathan. The Landscape of Nightmares. New York: New York University Press, 1998</p><p>　　Charlotte A. Alexander 著 姚虹譯《麥田里的守望者》. 北京：外語教育與研究出版社, 1997.</p><p>　　Geisma