A Saint, Or A Neurotic?

Since the first publication of the famous American writer J. D. Salinger's only novel The Catcher in the Rye on July 16, 1951 by Little, Brown and Company, the hero-Holden Caulfield in the book has appealed to much critique by numerous critics in various literary criticism theories. In this thesis, the author blazes a new path to the interpretation of the main character Holden Caulfield in the novel The Catcher in the Rye.Holden, 16, who studies in a prep school, comes from a middle class family. He hates the school rules and the pressure imposed on him. He is also disgusted with the vanity of the other students. Being expelled from school for the fourth time due to his bad performance in study, he idles about in New York for two days, during which he settles himself in a hotel and visits bars, parks and museums, and experiences the insincerity, hypocrisy, immorality and mutual deception in the adult world. Thus, he feels depressed, frustrated, and he behaves undisciplined, neurotically. He is sent to a mental house for his psychological breakdown. The whole novel is Holden's narration to an analyst in a mental house about what he sees, hears, thinks and does during the two days. This novel is regarded as "the picaresque in the 20th century".In this thesis, the author tries to analyze how Holden becomes neurotic by the application of "the tripartite model of the mind" theory-a component in Freud's psychoanalysis. The author, beginning with the life of Sigmund Freud, makes a summary on the main contents of Freudian theory and its development by laying more attention on the unconscious theory which threads the whole set of Freudian theory. The author also explicates with more details on the theory of the tripartitemodel of the mind: ingredients of personality-id, ego, and superego, the interactivity among the three, and the development of personality.Id, to Freud, is the aspect of personality allied with the instincts. Id operates according to the pleasure principle, by which the id functions to avoid pain and maximize pleasure. Ego, to Freud, is the rational aspect of the personality, responsible for directing and controlling the instincts according to the reality principle. The reality principle is the one by which the ego functions to provide appropriate constraints on the expression of the id instincts. Superego, to Freud, is the moral aspect of personality, the internalization of parental and societal values and standards. The superego controls behavior in accordance with the rules of society.Without reason, logic, morals, or ethics, the id is demanding, impulsive, blind, irrational, selfish, and pleasure-seeking. It shows no regard for reality and can seek satisfaction through action or through imagining that it has gotten what it wants. Contrasted to the id, the superego contains the ideals people strive for and the punishments (guilt) we expect when we have gone against our ethical code. The ego functions to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with reality and the demands of the superego. The ego, logical, rational, is the "executive" of personality, but is subject to control by three "masters"-the id, the superego, and the reality. The interactivity of the three: the id, seeking pleasure, the superego, seeking perfection, the ego, testing reality, results in people's internal conflicts, which, together with the self-defense mechanism, lead to the development of the personality.With the guidance of the Freudian theory, the author makes a thorough, detailed analysis on the personality and its development of the hero in Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye by extensive quoted examples from the story. At thesame time the author draws a conclusion on the cause of Holden's neurosis: The ego, the aim of which is originally to mediate between the primitive, illogic, unmoral id which is full of repressed desires, and the grim, relentless, supreme superego which is the embodiment of the social law and morality, is battered three-dimensionally (by the in...