An Analysis Of Holden’s Spiritual Journey In The Catcher In The Rye

"The Catcher in the Rye" is a novel of the American author, J.D. Salinger. The story is very simple, just describing the protagonist Holden’s street life in New York in three days. But it profoundly presents a lost spiritual journey of a young man. Since it was published half a century ago, the novel has received a mixed reaction. But its readership has increased drastically, and today it is still at the top of the U.S. bestseller list. As an excellent Bildungsroman, the novel always brings perception of spiritual growth to the readers.There have been a lot of comments on The Catcher in the Rye from social background, psychological analysis, archetypal criticism, linguistic forms, and narrative arts by the literary circles in China and in the West. The comments reveal the social consciousness, individual psychology and reality significance of the novel extensively. This thesis classifies The Catcher in the Rye into the U.S. Bildungsroman, and uses it as the research background. Using Freud’s theory of personality as the theoretical framework, the thesis makes an analysis of the protagonist Holden’s spiritual journey including confusion, rebellion, pursuit and compromise, and ultimately achieving sudden enlightenment, and makes a general comment on the personalities of the characters and the changes in thinking.