On The Theme Of The Catcher In The Rye From The Perspective Of Conversation Analysis

The Catcher in the Rye is a well-known novel written in 1951 by J. D. Salinger, relating a middle high school student Holden expelled from the school and wandering outside for two days. Researches on The Catcher in the Rye till now are carried out from the following three perspectives: one is from the purely literary perspective, one from the perspective of psychoanalysis, one from the sociological perspective. The purpose of most researches is to explore whether or not Holden realizes his dream to be a catcher in the rye. French (1976) takes it for granted that Holden finally gives up his dream and compromises with the adult world; Pinsker (1993) insists that Holden holds his dream till the end of the novel and breaks up with the adult world; Rosen (1977) believes that the ending of the novel is vague and the puzzle whether Holden enters into the adult world is not puzzled out; Bernice & Sanford Goldstein (1996) advocates that Holden's superficial abandon is a better way to realize his dream to be a catcher of innocence.However, The Catcher in the Rye is written in a first person narration. Mitchell (1992) points out that the unreliable character of Holden makes the readers doubt everything including Holden and the world in which he lives. Thus, this paper focuses on the conversations, comparatively objective in the novel, expecting to solve two questions: one involves with the relationship between Holden and the adult world—whether Holden breaks up with it or integrates into it; the other involves with Holden's dream—whether he succeeds in finding out the way to realize his dream to be a catcher in the rye. If the answer is affirmative, then what is the way?The theoretical framework this paper bases on is linguistics. Three notions, Adjacency Pair (AP), Dispreferred Organization (DO), and strategies of DO in Conversation Analysis are adopted in analyzing the conversations in the novel.Heritage (1984:267) points out that POs help to establish a friendly relationship among the talkers while DOs turn out to be quite opposite. Should the speaker adopt strategies in his/her DOs, the harsh relationship between the talkers will be lightened. Yu Guodong advances eight strategies in his book Conversation Analysis An Introduction. They are Inter-turn Gap, Turn-initial Delay, Appreciation, Token Agreement, Mitigation, Elaboration, Pre-emptive Reformulation and Explanation. He further points out that the use of the strategies will result in a smooth conversation and tuneful relationship between the speakers. As for Holden, it should be figured out that whether he attempts to adopt POs or DOs in his utterances and whether he actively adopts strategies to repair DOs.In order to find the answer to the first question, this paper will inspect the conversations from three aspects. Firstly, the number of DOs Holden employs should be considered. Statistical low use of DOs by Holden lends the support to the view that Holden forms well with the adult world; secondly, the number of strategies Holden adopts should be taken into account. Statistical high use of strategies by Holden lends the support to the view that Holden tries his best to adapt himself to the adult world; thirdly, weak and strong negative tones should also be considered. Comparatively weak negative tones in Holden's DOs ensure us that Holden actively participates into the adult world.In order to obtain the answer to the second question, this paper still focuses on the conversations in the novel. And it is found that Salinger seems to arrange several sets of conversations similar in the topics. The relationships between Holden and the other sides and the place where conversations occur are also similar. Holden is guided to become aware that language in communicating plays an important part in forming the relationship between the talkers. The less number of DOs both sides employ, the more friendly they will form; the weaker negative tones both sides adopt, the more harmonious the relationship will be. Holden after experiencing several similar conversations is made recognized that harsh language can do nothing but deteriorate the relationship between the talkers.The present paper attempts to make innovations in research method when conducting research on the theme of the novel. This paper conducts the analysis from linguistics instead of literature, psychology, or sociology done before, expecting to make an objective judgment about Holden and the other characters through analyzing the conversations between them. Moreover, this paper goes further in the application of the theory. Not only does this paper divide second pair parts into POs and DOs, also takes it into account that different types of adjacency pairs in DOs function differently. In addition, in analyzing the conversations in the novel, I find that the author of the novel seems to arrange several similar conversations so as to make Holden to recognize the causes to unfriendly relationship between the talkers.