英语本科毕业论文《麦田里的守望者》主人公心理分析

1、淮北煤炭师范学院 2012届学士学位论文 an analysis of the protagonists psychology of the catcher in the rye 学院、专业 外国语学院、英语 研 究 方 向 美国文学 学 生 姓 名 学 号 20080501021 指导教师姓名 指导教师职称 讲师 2011年 10月 16 日acknowledgementsherein i would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, mrs. weiyun, for her insightful views on how

2、 this thesis should be constructed, and for her providing me with timely feedback, careful modification and encouragement that are very helpful for writing the thesis. without her help, this thesis would have been impossible. mrs.weis passion in this field is never-ceasing and inspiring. from her, i

3、 have more closely experienced what the virtues like integrity and devotion mean for a true scholar.i should express my gratitude to my families and classmates. i thank them for their encouragement when i felt frustrated in the process of writing the thesis, and for their suggestions and supports.th

4、e analysis of protagonists psychology of the catcher in the ryeabstract:as one of the famous “reclusive writers”in the united states,jerome david salinger gets high reputation after world war .his only novel the catcher in the rye is regarded as a “modern classic”in post-war american literature. his

5、 works make him a representative of novels of a new kind.his works are both mysterious and serious with their own characteristic style. salingers works reflect the inner conflicts of american adolescents after world war and have great influences on americans.the story told by sixteen-year-old holden

6、 caulfield,the hero and narrator of the novel,is facused on what holden has experienced in his three-day vagabond life in new york after he is expelled from pency prep around christmas for his bad grades.i plan to regard holden canlfield as the portrayal of american adolescents,and try to explore ho

7、ldens inner world.the inner contradictions and conflicts are the typical characteristics of protagonist holden in the catcher in the rye.because of his inner contradictions and conflicts, this novel has become the age-old riddle of the literary world in the twentieth century. i plan to explain holde

8、ns psychology from his surroundings, including his school, his family, the society. and i can also reveal holdens inner world by the red hunting hat and the duck. through exploring the protagonist holdens inner world to reveal the post-war society of united states and the people who lack of ideal,de

9、pression,only pursue material life. hence,”the depressed generation”appears.key words: holden caulfield, inner contradictions and conflicts, the depressed generation, psychology, protagonist 麦田里的守望者主人公心理分析摘要：杰罗姆大卫塞林格（jerome david salinger）是美国著名“遁世”作家之一，他迄今为止发表的唯一一部小说麦田里的守望者在美国战后文学中被誉为“现代经典”；他的作品使他被公

10、认为战后另一类型小说的代表人物，具有严肃，自由而又趋于神秘主义的独特写作风格。他的作品集中反映了五十年代美国青少年那种对社会事物既不能撒手不管，又不愿参与的矛盾心理，从不同角度对社会的各个方面提出了批评，在美国有广泛影响。小说主人公，十六岁的霍尔顿考尔菲尔德以自述的形式回忆了他因成绩太差而在圣诞节前夕被潘西中学开除后在纽约三天的流浪式生活的经历。本文把霍尔顿考尔菲尔德作为美国青年的写照，探究霍尔顿的内心世界。内心的矛盾与冲突是小说麦田里的守望者主人公霍尔顿考尔菲尔德的典型特征。因其内心世界的复杂与矛盾，使得这部小说成为二十世纪文学界的难解之谜。本文从霍尔顿考尔菲尔德的周边环境，包括学校，家庭，

11、社会来分析霍尔顿内心的矛盾与冲突，并且还从小说中红色猎人帽和鸭子的象征意义来揭示霍尔顿的内心世界。通过探究主人公霍尔顿的内心世界来传递二战后美国的社会，以及当时人们缺乏理想，意志消沉，只追求物质生活的时代。于是，“垮掉的一代”便出现了。关键词：霍尔顿，内心矛盾和冲突，垮掉的一代，心理，主人公table of contentschapter1.introduction-1.1 the brief introduction of j.d.salinger and his works-1.2 the literature review-responses to the catcher in the

12、rye-1.3 paper context-chapter2.from holdens surroundings to see his psychology- 2.1 holden and his school- 2.2 holden and his family-2.3 holden and the society-chapter3.from holdens red hunting hat and the duck to see holdens psychology- 3.1holden and his red hunting hat- 3.2holden and the duck-chap

13、ter4.conclusion-references-the analysis of protagonists psychology of the catcher in the ryechapter1 introduction 1,1 the brief introduction of j.d.salinger and his works jerome david was born on january 1st, 1919 to a well-to-do merchant family in new york city. his father was a jewish importer of

14、european hams. his mother was a gentile-scotch-inish. salingers only sibling, doris, was eight years older than he. from 1932 to 1934, salinger received his education in both public and private schools in manhattan. when he was 15, he was sent to a military academy, valley forge military academy in

15、pennsylvania, where he got his only diploma in his life. in 1940, salinger published his first short story, the young folks in stray and the university of kansas city review was published later in the same year. at the end of world war , salinger was discharged from the army and remained in europe,

16、working as a civilian for the department of defense until may 1946,when he returned to new york city. he never stopped writing and publishing his works. in 1951,salinger published the catcher in the rye after working on it a decade. when it was published, it was soon a dest seller, peaking at number

17、 4 on the new york times best-seller list for the last half of 1951.salinger himself remained from 1951 to 1963 the most popular american fiction writer among serious high school and college students. as described by sanford pinsker, the book “made the college circuit, passing from one undergraduate

18、s hands to anothers moved inexorably from being merely a novel to becoming a generations etiquette book, and sometimes its biblesalingers name came to dominate dormitory bull session and to be spoken of in the worshipful tones once reserved for hemingway”(pinskster 1993;19) by 1954 the novel was not

19、 only available in translation in denmark, germany, france, israel, italy, sweden, switzerland, and the netherlands; even more significantly; it was made available in paperback by the new american library. by 1961 sales of catcher were reported to have reached one and a half million copies in the u.

20、s.alone. the catcher in the rye inevitably stands out as salingers only novel to date. and it was regarded as salingers autobiography. salinger said:“i was much relieved when i finished it. my boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the catcher in the rye ,and it was a great telling peo

21、ple about it .”(blaney 1953;1)the theme of the novel, in its broadest sense, is the difficulty of growing up, the lonely and hard voyage from innocence to experience.1.2 the literature review-responses to the catcher in the rye as the novel was published, it was prevailed not only in the high school

22、 and college, but in the scholars of domestic and overseas. many scholars began to research and have a debate on the catcher in the rye. firstly, many domestic scholars have researched the novel. shi xianrong first translated the catcher in the rye into chinese in 1960s as critical materail and rest

23、ricted publication. in 1983, the lijiang press published the chinese version translated by shi xianrong. and in 2007, another chinese version of the catcher in the rye translated by sun zhongxu, and this published in yilin press. the catcher in thr rye is regarded as one of the books of realism crit

24、icizing by hypocrisy, indulgence, profanity and cruelty of american society. for example, zhu jings the catcher in the rye field: the modern classic rebelling pedantry and sham jilin university journal (social sciences edition),2002,04 liao leichaos a story dogan analysis on the spiritual crisis of

25、the protagonist in the catcher in the rye puts his aim at the spiritual world of holden caulfield. 2009年人文社会科学专辑，第35卷，no.2009,vol35 as for the theme, zhang yuxiao, in the puzzle of life on the edge of cliff: on the social t theme of the catcher in the rye by salinger journal of shengyang normal univ

26、ersity social sciences edition , 2003, 01 thinks that this novel vividly reproduced the mental state of the postwar american youth: enjoying an abundant material life. secondly, also many foreign scholars have researched the novel. in 1950s, charles hkegel explored holdens “quest for communication”,

27、 noting the impediments to this quest in particular the phoniness that destroys rapport between communications. kegel , 1957: 188-190 in linguistic analysis, costello surveyed holdens diction and found the language in novel authetic, essential to holdens characterization, and an important “part of a

28、n aristic achievement”costello, 1959：172181 in 1960s, many critical articles and biographical materials which based on the catcher in the rye appeared, such as, william fbelchers and james wlees salinger and the critics 1962 and marvin marsdens if you really want to kown: a catcher casebook 1963 in

29、1970s, psychoanalytical readings began to appear, such as, in “a full-fledged psychoanalytical reading”, bryan saw holdens protecting innocence from adult corruption as a “frantic need to save his sister from himself.”bryan, 1974 in 1980s and 1990s, scholars emphasized on psychoanalysis, cultural re

30、lativity and politics. such as, edwin haviland millers in memoriam: allie caulfield 1982 miller concluded that allies death shaped holdens perspective on the world and that his inability to come to term with the loss of his younger brother reveals his “serious psychological problem.”miller, 1982 pam

31、ela hunt steinles in cold fear :the catcher in the rye censorship controversies and postwar american character 2000 is an examination of the cultural background. 1.3 paper context the thesis aims to study the protagonist holdens psychology in the catcher in the rye. the thesis consists of four chapt

32、ers. chapter1is a brief introduction of j.d.salinger and his works, and famous some domestic and overseas scholarss important research of the catcher in the rye. chapter2 gives the detailed explanation of holdens psychology from his surroundings, including school, family, and society. from each part

33、 to reflect holdens complicated psychology. chapter3 reflects holdens psychology from another perspective. such as, the red hunting hat and the duck, which reflects holdens inner complications and conflicts. it can show holdens psychology more detailed. chapter4 is a brief conclusion which presents

34、a clear sketch or what has been discussed in this thesis.chapter 2 from holdens surroundings to see his psychology2.1 holden and his school holden, coming from a rich family, receiving his schooling in an expensively charging pre-school, has a bright future. however, he is unhappy, for he can not ge

35、t what he wishes, that is, the emphasized and cherished spiritual value: honesty, compassion, kindness and love to human beings. but what is unfortunate is, when he begins to touch the adult world that he frightenedly finds out that his ideal for love is just a beautiful soap bubble. at the very beg

36、inning, the novel displays a sad, gloomy scene: as a schoolboy from pency prep, holden, often more than not, feels imcompatible with the situation. one saturday afternoon, when all the rest schoolmates are enjoying a football match, holden, himself, wanders about on the top of the nearby hill, for h

37、e shows little interest in the result of the match. and also he wants to avoid those “phonies” by detaching himself from others. more than that, because of not having passed four subjects, he is doomed to be kicked out from pency prep. holden holds a hostile attitude towards his schoolmates, all the

38、 teachers and the school authority. he feels that his schoolmates are either stupid or unbirdled; he never believes the teacherss words. just like at other school where he was studied, in pency prep, he feels that he is surround by phonies, complaining, “it was a terrible school , no matter how you

39、looked at it.” the catcher in the rye, yilin press, 2007, 218 early in the school, before holden is kicked out from pency prep, he visits his history teacher, mr. spencer, who hurts holdens self-esteem. because mr. spencer reads from his examination paper:“dear mr. spencer (he read out loud), that i

40、s all i kown about egyptians. i can not seem to get very interested in them although your lectures are very interesting. it is all right with me if you flunk me though as i am flunking everything else except english anyway. respectfully yours, holden caulfield.”the catcher in the rye,yilin press, 20

41、07, 228 after he reads the words, holden has a feeling of betrayal and a feeling of shameness. and all the kindness of spencer in his heart disappears. he is more tired of the adults world and the adults phoniness. in holdens eyes, his teacher, mr. antonlini is his last but only friend and the embod

42、iment of the force of morality. however, ironically, when holden has to turn to his but only friend, it is this very “gentleman” who gives this sorely hurt young man the last but deadly attack. when he nearly gives up all hopes, he comes to his teacher, also his idol to seek for some understanding a

43、nd consolation. but what he gets from his teacher is his slick and worldly wise warnings:“the mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one”the catcher in the rye,yilin press, 2007,419 when he heards these

44、 words, he feels depressed and disappointed. he knows that on one can understand him. he does not want to “live humbly”. his mostly-trusted teacher disappoints him. and when he wakes from his dream, he finds that his teacher is homosexual. his disappointment changes into indignation, disgust and hor

45、ror. his idol falls from the sacrifitical altar of the soul and breaks into pieces. holdens god dies. up till then, he feels completely desperate in the adult world. holden despies not only his teachers but also his schoolmates. for example, his roomate, stradlater, who disgusts holden the most. esp

46、ecially the date of stradlater, this “sexy bastard” with jane gallagher (holdens girl friend), makes holden “damn near dropped dead”, for jane gallagher is his best female friend. what stradlater has done deprives holden of his only cherishment and all of a sudden, holden feels “depressed and all” a

47、nd he wishes he was dead. this strike is so severe, so he has a fight with stradlater, and then leaves the pency prep lonely, no one has come see him. he begins his lonely and suffering journey to new york.2.2 holden and his family although the surrounding people are hard to be trusted, holden makes

48、 effort to seek for help from his family. family should be the best sanctuary for the young deneration, where understanding is most easily achieved, but obviously, holdens parents ignore their obligation. in the world holden lives parental care and love are inadequate or even absent. once holden hor

49、ses around with ackley, he pretends to be a blind guy, saying “mother darling, everything getting so dark in heremother darling, give me your hand. why will not give me your hand.”the catcher in the rye,yilin press, 2007,238 apparently, holden is so eager for parental love. no wander, in holdens unc

50、onsciousness, he really loves his home and looks for family love. however, holdens mention of his father is conspicuous by its almost total absence from the novel. he has said that his father is quite wealthy but also quite busy, they do not seem to share many experiences. though his father is very

51、angry with holden for expelling from school several times, he does not try to find out the reasons why holden does not like to go to school. when his sister phoebe says to him “daddy will kill you.”the catcher in the rye,yilin press, 2007,393 we can know that his father is crude to him. pshchologist

52、s might say that he is failing his schoolwork in order to gain the attention of his father and to command his fathers love. his mother is indifferent to him and up all night smoking cigarettes. holden repeatedly notes that she is too nervous and anxious herself to do more than pay perfunctory attent

53、ion to her childrens needs. apparently, except materials, holden cannot get adequate love from the family. he even does not dare to seek spiritual support or help from parents. from this, we can see that holden is very lonely, and his inner world is lonely and lack of love warmth.but another member

54、in his family, his sister, phoebe is the representive of innocence and beauty of childhood. holden thinks that the world is phony ang unable to communicate with most of the people except his younger sister phoebe. and in holdens bottom, he can be happy with phoebe and can feel love and warmth when h

55、e stays with phoebe. he thinks that the world is hypocritical and the adult world is phony, so he tries his best to protect his sister phoebe. and when he talks with phoebe, only phoebe listens to him carefully. he likes her innocence and he wants to tell phoebe his thoughts. once he tells phoebe: “and im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. what i have to do, i have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliffi mean if theyre running and they dont look