《麦田里的守望者》的主题思想和象征手法的运用_英语专业毕业论文.doc

麦田里的守望者的主题思想和象征手法的运用1. introductionin 1951,jerome david salinger published his first well-known novel, the catcher in the rye, with which he gained an almost immediate reputation as one of the foremost post-world war american novelists. shortly afterwards, the book became assigned reading for a majority of high school and college english courses in america. no other writer since war has achieved the heights of popularity of j.d. salinger. and we can say that his popularity has rested primarily on one character, holden caulfield, in the book.the novel tells a seemingly simple story of a 16-year-old boy, holden caulfield,who, after being expelled from the school for failing almost all of his courses, runs away from that hateful place to new york and spends three days there, roaming around in search for some goodness and the true value which he vaguely understands. with suffering uneasiness and a bitter spirit, he encounters many different people, only to find hypocrites and liars everywhere. finally, he sneaks home to see his sister phoebe, an unspoilt, angel-like child who helps him find the courage to live on in this corrupted adult world.salingers success surprised the critics as well as the reading public. critics searched and are still searching for justification for such overwhelming success in literature. they emphasize the spiritual disillusionment, the psychological stress of the adolescents in post-war america, and the creation of a life-like character. these are, admittedly, important and primary factors contributing to the immediate success of the novel. however, many authors have lightly touched upon one literary technique, which salinger employs extensively, and which helps the author to achieve what he wants to achievedthe use of symbols. this thesis tries to deal with this aspect of salingers style of writing and in relative detail i shall try to show how, step by step, the author underlines the basic theme of the novel by using symbols and how symbolism plays an irreplaceable role in the boy who is also a literary representative of the whole generation of american youth, and in the realistic portrayal of a whole generation through a baffled youngster-holden.while emphasizing the significance of salingers writing style, especially the use of symbols in the whole narrative, we do not want to ignore the social background at that time in america that seems necessary.the catcher in the rye was given accurate description in the postwar period, which was a sober and realistic time. the 1950s was the time when american social ideology changed quickly. the economy had already recovered from the great depression and america became the richest country in the world through war business. the living standard in america was raised considerably. the number of the middle class increased sharply. people, especially the youth, seized the opportunity that the prosperity had brought people to pursue all the modern pleasures.but the bright days were shadowed by a spiritual and cultural crisis in american society. with more material comfort, and more people lacked the spiritual belief. whats more, the trend of existentialism was flooding in the western countries at the time, greatly influencing the youngsters in america. the main character of the book, holden, has the feature of existentialisma rebel in spirit, a coward in behavior, despise the false, the vulgarity and the convention.though their family could supply them with material life, they still felt depressed and began to doubt whether the material comfort really meant anything in life. in a passive way, they adopted the decadent way of lifedrinking excessively，taking drugs and enjoying sex freedom as an expression of their dissatisfaction with the society. as a result, many of these young people became social “dropouts” which historians call “the beat generation”. youngsters at this period of time sensed something was wrong but did not know what and wanted to rebel but did not know how.we see that salinger sensitively depicts the time he knows well. he chooses intelligent, sensitive and very self-conscious adolescent as his main character representing all the problems his generation of youth confronted. the young man suffers from the “phoniness” in the corrupted society and struggles vainly to find a way out. salinger feels and analyses the abnormal modern society through a symbolic structure of language, motif, and episode. throughout the book, salinger emphasizes on the conflicts between the spirit and material, the reality and imagination, the living and the death.ihab hassan comments on salingers novel saying that “it is the new look at the american dream especially dramatized by the encounter between a vision of innocence and the reality of guilt, between the forms love and power have tended to assume in america. the natural locus of the conflict in the work of salinger is childhood and adolescence. in them the counter play of hope and despair, participation and withdrawal, commands a full range of comic that is ambivalent, reference: it is the old story of the self against the world in outlines by a mass society.it is because the novel presents a picture of the confused mind of a sixteen-year-old boy in a few days in his life, during which the protagonist tries to understand a world which is far beyond his scope of understanding, the narrative becomes a very complicated mixture of various kinds of ideas behind a seemingly innocent and unsophisticated monologue. only symbol can be a tool powerful enough to capture such complicated mind of one under great psychological stress and this is exactly what salinger uses to enable the reader to perceive reality from the inside, and to find meaning through it. however, the term symbolism is ambiguous. it can mean “both a system of symbols or representation, and the practice of using symbols, especially by sensuous representation.”from this, we can see, the “symbol” has extended its meaning to denote every conventional representation of idea by form. when the symbol is shown a reader, he sees, hears, and feels something else -he receives the range of meaning beyond the thing itself. some symbols are “conventional” or “public”. for example, the cross is a symbol of christianity; the rose is a symbol of beauty and love. while some other symbols are “particular” ones which are influenced by the readers own interpretations and understandings. therefore, a symbol may mean differently for different readers with their own different life experiences and cultural backgrounds. for instance, the color “red” indicates prosperity, happiness in china; while in the western countries, it may symbolize the madness and violence. here cultural difference plays its role, just as much as personal differences. some symbols closely connecting with an idea or person and are easily recognized; others have to be understood in a social, cultural or psychological context. symbols employed by salinger in his the catcher in the rye are mostly of latter type. real symbol has magic and life, which it brings to a complex and subtle situation.everyones feeling is different from every other at every moment of his comprehension. the emotional changes as we actually experience them are often beyond the power of any writer to put them down through the conventional means of description. one needs to resort to symbols to reflect, to reveal the unconscious emotional situations.it is clear that symbols are the artists means of creation patterns of thought and emotion, which do not previously exist. a symbol, however, must have a specific reference or a cluster of them to which it is somehow specifically attached. there may be ambiguities, because its value is to be achieved by the understanding of the reader, who is to participate in the artists perception and creation. what we should do is to keep our eyes open for literary symbols so they can bring out the effect, which the author wants to evoke.in the following chapter, i would like to discuss in relative details how salinger uses these symbols to achieve the powerful effect of the novel. this thesis will concentrate on a discussion on salingers use of symbols in the novel to bring out its thematic importance. we will discuss how mr. salinger portrays a disillusioned young mans nostalgic longing for the beautiful and innocent past by employing some symbolic characters. through the discussion in this part, i hope to present a relatively clear picture of how salingers employments of symbols have helped achieve the thematic depth of the novel.2. the authors purpose of using childhood as the memorial in holdens heartbecause salinger experienced the world warand was deeply depressed by it, his perspective on life is , to a large extent, molded by this experience. he recalls the initial stage of the human beings, a state of innocence not yet corrupted by the society. this innocence can now only be found in children. childhood is an essential symbol in the novel through which salinger expresses this longing for the basic goodness innocence to the readers through his heroes.the spiritual crisis in which salingers hero finds himself probably shaped by a world which is full of injustice, frustration, agony and horror. salinger captures the reality of the world and wants to embody them through a youngsters experience. on the naturalistic theory “the further one goes from the innocence of the cradle, the more tainted on becomes from contact with society”. it means that when people in their childhood, their love are pure and open, when they grow older, they are formed to obey certain kind of rules in order to live decently like people around them. they turn to be “phony”.through this novel, the author tries to raise this question“how can an adult keep the innocence all through the life?” an adolescent struggling unconsciously to find an answer presents this big question. in the novel, salinger portrays his character, holden caulfield, as an intelligent nonconformist who feels alienated from the present life and who is, trying to establish a real relationship with others, because holden is more intelligent and more sensitive than the people around him. “accordingly he is a young man adrift in an adult world that buffets and bewilders him.”holden suffers from the way things are in the world, in which there is little real love and understanding. he wants to be a professional “lover, but not in the traditional sense; he would like to be a fielder of children because they have not yet been corrupted by the phony society and they love more spontaneously- they have not yet learned to withhold love”.(slinger,1951:28) however, holden, though forced to a plight himself, is faced two choices: either to struggle futilely to retain some of the basic innocence and goodness or to surrender to the adult society. everyday, he has to tolerate the deceit and vulgarity of the phony society. this is, to him psychologically at least, an unbearable situation. it is this sick world that is forcing a boy like holden to alienate himself from the society of the mental. holdens self-alienation is accompanied by an equally willful escape from the society into the past of the bygone days, which, in his memory, are increasingly becoming a lost eden, a world equated with the world of childhood “holden himself sees childhood as the source of good in human life.”now on the threshold of adulthood, the mixed feelings of anxiety, fear and guilt overwhelm him. the past then offers a clear contrast- in childhood he had what he is now seeking: love, truth, innocence and a carefree life. he can find them now only in his sister, phoebe, who is still a child; in his dead brother, allie and his mitt; in his dead classmate, james castle; in the red hunting cap and in the three nuns. salinger shows us the beauty of the lost eden through the descriptions of these very symbolic characters and objects.now let us see how these characters and objects symbolize the world, which holden has steeped out of, and wishes to return to.3. the characters in the heros lost eden and their symbols meaningchildhood as an eden in holdens heart, the characters and things beneath will show their symbolic meaning in this novel.3.1 the symbols in phoebe caulfieldthe key character is phoebe, whose presence can be found everywhere in the book. she is only ten years old, quite charming with her red hair. we can say phoebe is a sincere, vivacious and wise little girl who gives holden all her love and trust. throughout the three troubled days, holden has been thinking about phoebe. she is, apparently, the only person who understands him. this is at least what he believes. in a world where there is no understanding or compassion, phoebes understanding and compassion are what holden has been seeking for so long. holdens conversation with phoebe is the only successful communication in the entire novel. significantly, he and phoebe can exchange idea successfully each other. and this is necessary; phoebe forms a world of innocence. this fact is very important. holdens view of the society, as was that of many young people of the post-war generation, is negative. yet phoebe is symbolically positive. his relationship with her will serve as a basis for a solution to his problems, which are mostly the hindrances to communicate with one another, to be true to one another and to live harmoniously in the world.it can be said that in some ways phoebe is the child ideal type. she is unspoilt and unselfish. her childish whimsy is mixed with serious perceptions. to holden, she can contribute all that she owns. for instance, when holden runs out of money and comes to phoebe, she gives him her christmas gift money. to protect holden, she herself takes the risk of being scolded. when their mother smells the smoke in phoebes bedroom and suspects that somebody is there, phoebe tells a sweet, white lie to their mother, admitting that she smokes. whenever holden encounters problems, he would like go to phoebe. clearly, to holden, phoebe is an ideal type than an individual character. phoebes role in the novel seems as a port of refuge to holden. the relationship between phoebe and holden indicates symbolically that if human beings could keep their innocence permanently, the world would be totally different from what it is now. it would be much easier and more beautiful, a better place for everyone to live in.by using phoebe as a symbolic character, salinger captures the longing and the dilemma of the protagonist going through the crisis of life. holden dreams of an edenic world. in his imagination, this world is equated with childhood.3.2the symbols in allie caulfield another character, perhaps more symbolic, is holdens younger brother, allie caulfield, who died of leukemia at ten. allie is an offstage character. he is brilliant, friendly red-headed, like phoebe who units intelligence and compassion as no other members of the family could, setting for all a standard of permanence, for he died before getting any chance of being corrupted. holdens comments on allie are little bit idealization.“he was two years younger than i was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. he was terrifically intelligent. his teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like allie in their class, he was also nicest, in lots of ways. he never got mad at anybody.”(slinger,1951:98)from this, we come to know that allie remains a perfect image in holdens mind, one important thing to remember is that allie is dead and does not actually appear in the novel but only exists in holdens deep memory like an angle. as holden fills in details bit by bit about him, the readers regret that he can not meet that character increases, and he more readily responds to holdens feeling about the lost past.after allies funeral, holden punches his fist against the garage windows and hurts himself badly. we may trace all the elements of his behavior. “mutilation is itself the physical symbol of a psychological state of self-accusation and self-laceration.”(brief ,1961:260.)this might be the only thing holden could do at the moment to vent his rage and despair for his lost eden.as he sees the visitors leaving from allies tomb, holden thinks how they can go somewhere for a nice dinner or something else, but allie has to stay there in his grave. the idea almost drives him crazy. “i just wish he wasnt there. you dont know what i mean.” childish though it sounds, this comment is nevertheless important. it symbolically shows the indifference in peoples attitude toward the basic goodness. they bury it, and then forget all about it and go back to the phoniness again.3.3 the symbols in james castleholden seems to be obsessed by death, especially death of a child. another one of his obsessions is his schoolmate, james castle, a boy who committed suicide by jumping from a window in elkton hills because he wouldnt retract a statement he thought true and was cruelly tormented by some students. in holdens eyes, the value and perspectives have been totally distorted in that place. allie died of illness, while james was a victim of some fatal behavior. in both cases, innocence is extinguished, but it is also permanently preserved in the memory of the protagonist. no matter how perfect and how ideal the remembered world is and how much we need it. it is disappearing. holden knows that and suffers much from it.4. the symbols in some special things4.1 allies baseball glovethe episode of allies baseball glove is one of the most moving scenes in the novel, for it beautifully conveys to us in sentimental tone. he describes it in his usual way:“it was a very descriptive subject. the thing that