| In the 1940s, the problem in the course of the adolescent growing-up in American literature attracted the attention of American scholars, and so the study on the initiation theme in literary works sprung up. Adolescence is a key period that everyone has to experience in his life and adolescents in different times have different puzzlements. Therefore, initiation is a literary theme full of novelty and vitality forever.With the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, J. D. Salinger established his position as one of the most significant post-world war II American novelists. The Catcher in the Rye, which is sometimes called modern classic of American literature in the 20th century, renders a panoramic picture of an adolescent's world, in which J. D. Salinger delicately traces Holden's odyssey from a physically and spiritually embittered adolescent through the psychologically full-fledged adulthood to his eventual initiation into the mainstream society. Since its publication, The Catcher in the Rye has caught a lot of critical attention, varying from traditional criticism to various post-modernist views, and received diverse interpretations. Widespread successful criticism, together with some elements of protests, established the thirty-two-year-old novelist's reputation. It is around the leading character Holden Caulfield that the most heated debates revolve, pitting the Holden fans in one corner against the Holden haters in the other, due to Holden as one of the earliest anti-heroes in American literature. However, no critic can fulfill the spirit of Ezra Pound's maxim of "make it new!" what new things could possibly be said about Catcher, about Holden? No reading can, or should, be considered definitive.There are also many studies on the initiation theme in the books of literary criticism at home and abroad. Most of them made analyses, simple or complex, but seem to neglect some commonness in human being's initiation embodied in the story, and the influence of the specific social culture on his initiation. The thesis holds that the work not only displays Holden's gradual maturity during the roam to New York, but also embodies the common experiences of human beings' initiation. The hero's personal taste in initiation and other characters' influence on him reflect many experiential archetypes in human beings' initiation.The thesis puts emphasis on analyzing the protagonist and the surroundings in the multi-dimensional angles. Furthermore, in the application of sociology, psychology and pedagogy, it could make a comprehensive and thorough exploration to Holden, the spokesman of the rebellious youngsters. The thesis is composed of five parts. The first part is Chapter One-Introduction, which briefly introduces the development of studies on the novel at home and abroad, and the argument of the thesis.The second part is the main body of the thesis, and it is composed of three sections. Chapter Two introduces the definitions of initiation, Bildungsromam and the mode of growth. Then, it also attaches great importance to the puzzlements and obstacles during the period of growth in modern society. Chapter Three analyzes the hero's tastes during the course of initiation and the influence of other characters on the hero's growth, and reveals the argument-the hero reconciles to the mainstream society and finishes his growing object. Chapter Four is an interdisciplinary study of the compromise between Holden and the mainstream society. This chapter is concerned sociology, psychology and pedagogy to illustrate the compulsoriness of Holden's ultimate choice, that is compromise between himself and mainstream society.And the third part is Chapter Five-Conclusion. On the basis of the analyses and interpretations in the first two parts, the conclusion summarizes the argument of the thesis. As a classic American initiation story, The Catcher in the Rye reflects no matter how the adolescents detest and reject the mainstream society, even escape from it, they have to reconcile to and play his due role in it.
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