The Lonely Catcher--An Analysis Of Holden's Spiritual World

Jerome David Salinger(1919- )is one of the famous American "recluse writers" . His only novel The Catcher in the Rye is regarded as a "modern classic" in post-war American literature.The story told by sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, is focused on what Holden has experienced in his three-day odyssey in New York after he is expelled from Pencey Prep around Christmas for his bad grades. It shows us the state of mind of some middle-class young men. Facing the decadent and declining post-war American society, they suffer greatly from spiritual depression, feeling at loss as to what to do. This thesis, beginning with an analysis of Holden'character, regards Holden as a portrait of the American adolescent and studies every aspect in the spiritual world of Holden Caulfield.I The analysis of Holden's character1.Sensitive and cynical.Holden is growing into adolescence in which he is changing physically and mentally. Before the hard choices in life, he is experiencing a mental turbulence in his role and social position. He hates anything wicked and hypocritical in the adult world. Being cynical of everything evil, he is intolerant of the society. He is sensitive to the dirty social reality and anything that will destroy him. He chooses to adopt a kind of sensitive, cynical and resentful attitude towards his life.2."Inconsistency"between outward actions and inner thoughtsHolden is a kind boy by nature, who is struggling between the virtue inside and the ugly reality outside. We can see his good nature underneath his dispirited behavior. He is a contradictory figure who displays outward behavior that seems to be not in line with his inner thoughts. His complicated psychological contradictions are the result of both social and personal factors.3.Fantasy and impulse.Holden has unstable mental features. He is restless with anxiety and suffers from great mental pain. Being a weak willed boy, he can't concentrate on anything and often indulges in fantasy and impulse. This indicates that he is still in his adolescence and has not get reached mental mature. Living in his aspirations, he easily feels anxious, afraid and hopeless once his ideas come in conflict with reality.â…¡ An analysis of Holden's spiritual world1.The agony of the adult world.In the story, Holden is a sensitive and kind boy from a middle-class family. He sees nothing but hypocritical, mean and cold people around him wherever he goes---from his family to the society, so he hates the adult world very much. Throughout the novel, we can realize his sense of disillusionment and hopelessness caused by his hatred for the wicked and false adult world.2.The catcher in the innocent childhoodIn Holden's eyes, childhood is the best time of a person's life. He feels love and warmth from his little sister Phebe and other children and experiences the most valuable feelings that can't be obtained in the adult world. Holden depressingly discovered, however, that innocent childhood is being invaded by the wickedness of the adult world. He decides to become a catcher in the Rye to protect the children. 3.The fatal lonelinessSalinger emphasizes Holden's loneliness through time, action and imagery. Holden's loneliness has an external cause: the indifference of family, school and society. It also has an internal cause, Holden's personality: his sensitivity and his hatred for phoniness. His loneliness is not only his, but also the era and the society's.â…¢ Holden's protest and his escape from reality1.The rebel against the educational systemHolden indignantly denounces the hypocritical and authoritarian American educational system. He is expelled from school four times not because he is incompetent in studies but because he is protesting against the system in his own silent way.2.The protester against western cultureHe thinks film and religion represent the hypercritical nature of modern western civilization, so he hates films and feels that the Christian spirit is being...