An Analysis of Holden in the Catcher in the Rye《麦田守望者》主人公霍尔顿人物形象分析.doc

An Analysis of Holden in the Catcher in the Rye麦田守望者主人公霍尔顿人物形象分析AcknowledgementsWith the composition of the thesis coming to an end, I have at last obtained an opportunity to express my gratitude to my supervisor, who has not only given me her generous and instructive advice, and valuable materials, but also spent much time reading and correcting the manuscript of the thesis. Besides, teachers constant encouragement and help during my study here could not be underestimated for the fulfillment of this thesis.I am also thankful to other teachers of English Department, whose courses I have attended and from whom I have learned much.I would also like to acknowledge my deep indebtedness to my parents who spare no pains bringing me up.AbstractHolden Caulfield is the young leading character in The Catcher in the Rye with Salingers celebrated works which was praised in the American literary arena. He was the representative of US youths statue at that time to some extent. His individual character of cynicism and kind-heartedness deeply shocked generations of American readers.Holden is a man of marked individuality. The key point what this paper analyzes is his personal characters. Holden lives in the society with contradictions. “Phony”, probably the most famous phrase from The Catcher in the Rye, is one of Holdens favorite concepts. It is his catcherall for describing hypocrisy and ugliness that encounters in the world around him. As a rebel, he is struggling with the world. Meanwhile he is in deep love with purity of his childhood and innocence of children. More importantly, he defends childrens soul and keeps watch the bright ideal. This paper centers on two major aspects to analyze characters of Holden. One is his rebellious spirit; the other is his consistent pursuit of defending purity and seeking lofty ideal.Through a in-depth study on the personality of the leading character, this paper helps the readers understand the classical figure of Holden, the reality of American society after World War and the profound significance of this work.Key words: Innocence; Rebel; Phony摘 要霍尔顿是塞林格扬名美国文坛的名作麦田里的守望者的小主人公，他可以称得上是代表当时美国青年的铸像。诚然，个性鲜明的霍尔顿深深地震撼着一代代的读者。霍尔顿的个性特征是本文分析的重点.主人公存在于矛盾对立的社会现实中。“假模假样”是麦田里的守望者这部小说中的经典语言，同时也是主人公惯用的词语。通过它足以把霍尔顿眼中世界的虚伪，丑恶诠释地淋漓尽致。作为社会的反叛者，主人公在孤独，踌躇中苦苦挣扎。叛逆的同时，他又对童年时光的纯真情有独钟,更重要的是他捍卫儿童心灵,守望美好的理想的形象更加发人深思。本文立足于霍尔顿矛盾性格对立的视角,分析其个性特征中的两大层面。一方面是透析他个性中的反叛性；另一方面是解读他捍卫纯真,守望美好的崇高理想。这篇论文通过对主人公个性特征深层次的解析，以求能帮助读者更好地理解霍尔顿这个经典形象，理解第二次世界大战后美国现实社会，以及作品蕴涵的深刻思想意义。关 键 词: 纯真；反叛；假模假样Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsiAbstractii摘 要iiiTable of ContentsivChapter Introduction1Chapter The Hypocritical World in Holdens Eyes22.1 Hypocritical World22.1.1 A Byword of SocietyPhony22.1.2 Holdens Sensitivity to Phony42.2 A Liar in the Hypocritical World5Chapter A Rebel Resenting the World63.1 A Rebel against Mundane Affairs63.1.1 A Rebel against the School63.1.2 A Symbol for the Rebel Red Hunting Cap73.2 Evading in the Revolt83.3 Growing in the Revolt10Chapter Holdenthe Innocent image in The Catcher in the Rye114.1 Holden A Young Man Loving Pure Childhood Time114.2 Holden-A Patron God for Children124.2.1 The Ideal Eden134.2.2 A Catcher13Chapter Conclusion15Bibliography16 Chapter 1 IntroductionJerome David Salinger is born in New York City, on January1st, 1916. He grew up in Newswire and later attended three colleges. As early as the age of fifteen he began writing. When he was twenty one he published his first short story. After service as an infantry sergeant in Europe during World War he wrote more stories, most of which were published in Colliers, Saturday Evening Post collected papers and other journals. Salinger, a man of mystery and conscientiousness, aliens from all things connected with the society. In Salingers works, his protagonists are often sensitive and very aware of adolescents, or adults who, in either case, seek their own identity in relation to an external world with which they find themselves more or less at odds. And also, alienation or disenchantment with the so-called “adult” world figures largely exists in his writings.With the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, J. D. Salinger gained almost an immediate acceptance as being among the most significant post-World War American novelists. In The Catcher in the Rye, a 16 years old middle-school student, Holden, was dismissed by Pencey School for the fourth time. Then he chose to be a tramp. The three days vagrant life vividly reflects his experiences and feelings. It manifests the American young peoples depressed and indecisive psychology. And also, it shows us the hypocritical and repulsive of the adult world. What Holden had seen and heard had aroused the innumerable contemporary peoples intense sympathetic chord. Many adults also had a better understanding of the younger generations through reading this book. Holden, as an incompletely sensible child as well as an “adult”just as a know-it-all, struggles to find the right path into adulthood. He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him surprisingly unbearable. And through his visual angle he tried to protect himself from the pain and disappointment in the adult world. However, he is constantly distressed that he is keeping falling into adulthood and he finally realizes the aim of life that he is seeking for.This paper focuses on the study of protagonist “Holden”, especially trying to further elaborate and analyze his classical image on the basis of his rebellious and innocent spirit. It helps readers to have a better understanding of the growing pain of this cynical and precocious boy. Meanwhile, it excavates the ideology and connotation of this classical work. Chapter 2 The Hypocritical World in Holdens Eyes2.1 Hypocritical WorldThe society where Holden lives in is complex and modern. It is no longer the society which Thoreau or Adams lived in. People are surrounded by the hypocritical, indifferent, lowly and degenerated conditions. The Catcher in the Rye not only reveals the leading characters living conditions, furthermore it demonstrates the so-called “the adult world” that makes someone to be afraid or to be sick.In the novel, hypocritical, ugly scenes are displayed in every aspect. The advertisement for Pencey School would disturb you; the picture of horse jumping over fence gives, in his opinion, a false image of the school. In Holdens judgment, Pencey is a home for dishonest, spoiled children, and not for idealized horsemen-to-be.The great majority of moviesforeign, as well as Americancreate an unreal world that Holden finds unacceptable. The story of the particular movies recounted by Holden is a glorification of material success in typical soap opera fashion. False sorrows and happy endings are strewn about with a lavish hand.Meanwhile, mass media is always glorifying the sensational and ugly things. All of the people surround him dont do serious affairs. Instead, they are always talking about money, gamble, women, swindle and so on. In the society, people are willing to seek “conspicuous consumption”. The novel illustrates the entire process of jockeying for a superior materialistic image in our society. It is not actually necessary to own things; the appearance of ownership suffices. People who could not afford Cedillas (the status symbol par excellence) were buying tail fins to make their Chevrolets look like Cedillas. People who dont own television sets were putting dummy television antennas on their roofs.Everything is hypocritical in the eyes of Holden who is pursuing natural innocence. He detests it very much.2.1.1 A Byword of SocietyPhonyWe find that one of the most often-used words in Holdens lexicon is “phony”. It appears in the entire book more than 40 times. And also it is the most sensitive word for protagonist. He is constantly detecting sham motives in the people around him. At the beginning of the novel, the author tells the main reason why Holden left Elkton Hills middle school. It is said that “Because I was surrounded by phonies. Thats all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Harsh that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life. Ten times worse than old Thurman (the headmaster of Pencey School). One Sundays, for instance, old Haas went around shaking hands with everybodys parents when they drove up to school. Hed be charming as hell and all. Except if some boy had little old funny-looking parents. You should have seen the way he did with my roommates parents. I mean if a boys mother was sort of fat or corny-looking or something, and if somebodys father was one of those guys that wear those suits with very big shoulders and corny black-and-white shoes, then old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile and then hed go talk, for maybe a half an hour, with somebody elses parents.” (The Catcher in the rye, 13-14) From this part we may feel the meaning of phoniness.Through reading more and more chapters, we get deeper understanding of “phony”. The situation in Pencey School is the same as Elkton Hills middle school. Pencey declares that it has cultivated innumerable outstanding and intelligent youths from 1888. The big words for Holden are of no use whatsoever. Strictly speaking, they are for the birds. “They dont do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school.” (The Catcher in the rye, 2) In fact in anywhere persons and the matters are gaining fame by deceiving people. For the weekend evening meals, students have beefsteak or other food as usual. But this good food is taking for students by no means, because many students guardians always come to school on Sunday. The school authorities are afraid that the mother of child may ask the question about the dinner. The fraud concerns with beef made Holden to be extremely nasty. He tells the younger sister Phoebe, “It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life.” (The Catcher in the rye, 167) “Even the couple of nice teachers on the faculty, they were phonies too.” （The Catcher in the rye，168）Even that the cautious and prudent teacher Mr. Spencer was not an exception. Therefore, Holden believes, the students who are cultivated in this school, inevitably also like the teachersthe birds of the same feather. Another time he tells his girlfriend Sally, “You ought to go to a boys school sometime. Its full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in there dirty little goddam cliques.”（The Catcher in the rye，131）2.1.2 Holdens Sensitivity to PhonyAs a typical rebel, Holden is sensitive to all hypocritical people and phony matters. He hates movies more than others. He regards his Brother D. B.s screen play as degeneration. Because the movie has congested the baseless and irrational concoctions plot .The characters are all full of prunes and prism. In New Yorks barroom, an old black man named Ernie is always playing the piano. Holden thinks the old man is in low standard when playing the piano. To Holden, the old man is merely made cleverness in trivial matters or the other glib tricks frequently. But the audience who regards themselves as so called experts, however, speaks highly of the black man. Holden thinks they are all mad. “People always clap for the wrong things. Anyway, when he was finished, and everybody was clapping their heads off, old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific piano player.” （The Catcher in the rye，84）Here, Holden bravely exposes the ugly essence covered by the civilized veil. He also knows that these psychological abnormalities of fellows in the Edmont hotel would turn to be the modest gentlemen or virtuous young women on the next day morning all of a sudden. Obviously, the misconduct behind the social masks cannot run away in front of Holdens vision.Especially the plot that disgusts protagonist deeply is the scene when he has a date with his girlfriend. When he watches a play with Sally, he smokes cigarettes outside and he sees some audience taking rest outside the field after the first curtain. They just talk something senseless but it sounds that they are interested in it. Holden feels very sick about the situation. Holden thinks, “What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were.” （The Catcher in the rye，126）Holdens reaction for hypocrites is up to some degree of subtle. For instance when he just arrives at Edmont hotel, the waiter who guides him to enter the room was a 65 years old man. He considers that “He was one of those bald guys that comb all their hair over from the side to cover up the baldness.” （The Catcher in the rye，61） It also makes Holden losing heart on such a worthless detail. He thinks it is one kind of varnish or a sort of hypocritical actually. When seeing the old man, Holden is thinking “Id rather be bald than do that.” （The Catcher in the rye，61）2.2 A Liar in the Hypocritical WorldPerhaps the readers would recognize the contradictory characteristics about Holden. On the one hand, he detests dishonest very much. Ironically, on the other hand, he usually uses fabricated lies to others. It is true that in the novel, this point manifests very prominent. Holden explains, “Im the most terrific liar you ever saw your life. Its awful. If Im on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where Im going Im liable to say Im going to the opera. Its terrible. So when I told old Spencer, I had to go to the gym to get my equipment and stuff. That was a sheer lie. I dont even keep my goddam equipment in the gum.”（The Catcher in the rye，16）We may see from the entire statements Holden simply makes irresponsible remarks everywhere. He not only speaks obscene words frequently, but also has reckless lexicon without causes. Take one of scenes for example, he fights against Stradlater for being jealous of Stradlaters appointment with Jane, but he tells Ackley that his action is just to protect Ackleys reputation absolutely. To him the fighter is that of defending against injustice. At the restroom of the bar in New York, he meets the man called “a terrible player” in time, but Holden actually speaks flatters to him insincerely. He tells a terrible player that the man is the best