From "Holy Refusal" To "Final Enlightenment"

Though over half a century has passed since the publication of the Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger in 1951, few heroes of contemporary literature have aroused so much interest and controversy among American youths as Holden Caulfield, the young protagonist of the Catcher. The novel is mainly concerned about the three-day's wandering life of Holden, a sensitive sixteen-year-old boy who has been expelled from the fourth academy because of poor academic records.The topic of oriental religious philosophy in Salinger's writings has often been discussed recently. However, the main concern of the critique has always been limited to the novels published after the Catcher, in which direct borrowings from philosophical Taoism and Zen Buddhism are unmistakable. It is noticeable that Salinger had been studying philosophical Taoism and Zen Buddhism during the late years of the 1940s when he began working on the Catcher. Since the oriental religious indications are so prominent in Salinger's other works and since the author was immersed with Tao and Zen at the same time when he was hard working on his The Catcher in the Rye, it is quite natural and reasonable to find factors of Tao and Zen in the Catcher. Therefore, this thesis attempts to reveal the traces of religious philosophy Salinger embraces in his own spiritual life shown in the character he created by analyzing the Tao and Zen indications throughout the Catcher.This thesis consists of five parts:In "Introduction", I first give a brief introduction to the main idea of The Catcher in the Rye, and Tao and Zen in Salinger's other works. Then I try to make clear the purpose and perspective of the thesis. I have explored the root cause of the special charm of The Catcher in the Rye by analyzing the nature of Taoism and Zen Buddhism as represented by the writings of Lao Zi andD.T.SuZuki.In "Chapter One: Salinger - life and interest in the oriental religious philosophy", I try to present Salinger is a writer with serious religious concerns. Early in his career Salinger became aware that the wide gulf between the secular and spiritual pursuits has created a great imbalance in modern life and art. So he indulged himself into the oriental religious philosophy and endeavored to prescribe a synthesis that may redress the balance. His works give an immediate proof of his studies in philosophical Taoism and Zen Buddhism.In "Chapter Two: Philosophical Taoism - A 'Holy Refusal' of the Materialistic Society", I attempt to explore the apparent revelation of philosophical Taoism in Holden's "refusal" of the utilitarian ethical values. It is composed of three sections: "Section one: Return to Nature" aims to elaborate the Taoist sense in Holden's "catcher" dream by examining the negative forces of the spreading of human civilizations, including both material civilization and spiritual civilization. As the title and central image of the novel, "the Catcher in the Rye" is a vivid expression of Holden's longing for the natural and innocent nature of human beings. "Section two: Take-no-action" endeavors to prove Holden's yearning for harmony and stability in the novel because they act in accordance with nature and embrace simplicity and integrity in Taoism. This is the root that Holden holds on to the ideas of anti-knowledge and non-competition. The so-called valuable knowledge from the western utilitarian education is viewed as the root of desires and is bound to cause competition and bring injury both to oneself and to nature. "Section Three: The Unity of Opposites" intends to reveal how the Taoist dialectical unity functions in Holden's pursuit for the last harmony.In "Chapter Three: Zen Buddhism - The Way to the Final Enlightenment", attention is focused on the profound implications of Zen Buddhism adopted bySalinger in the Catcher. It is further divided into two sections: Section one is a theoretical basis presentation composed of two subsections: 1. A brief introduction to the history of Zen Buddhism and its spreading in the West through the work of D.T. Suzu...