《麦田里的守望者》人物分析 蒋乐乐汇总

AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEENAGERS’ PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

By

JIANG Leyao

Abstract

The youth is crucial stage of a person’s whole life. Teenager’s personality development is directly relevant to his or her growth, further, it plays a vital role in maintaining social stability. Personality education is one of the most important elements in the development of adolescents. J.D. Slinger was one of the most famous writers in America. His masterpiece is The Catcher in the Rye. This novel follows Holden’s experiences in New York City in the days following his expulsion from Pencey. In this novel, Holden’s mental activity took place great changes. His personality also changed gradually. In America, Holden Caulfield has great influence. In this thesis, the author will first analyze the change of Holden’s mental activity and find out the reasons of Holden’s psychological change. At last, the paper will talk about the social significance of teenager’s personality education.

Key Words: Development, Teenager, Personality, education

摘要

青年时期对一个人的一生十分关键，青少年的人格发展关系到他们的成长，甚至关系到整个社会的稳定。人格教育是青少年发展中至关重要的一个环节。赛琳格是美国著名的作家之一。《麦田里的守望者》是他最出名的作品。这部小说讲述了主人公霍尔顿在被学校开除后，在纽约游荡的经历。在故事中,霍尔顿的心理发生了巨大的变化，他的性格也逐渐改变。在美国，主人公霍顿·考尔菲德对青少年群体产生了很大影响。在这篇论文中,作者将首先分析霍尔顿的心理活动的变化,找出霍尔顿的变化的原因。最后,本文将讨论青少年的人格教育的社会意义。

关键词：发展，青少年，人格，教育

Contents

I. Introduction (1)

II. Literature Review (2)

2.1 The Brief Introduction to J. D. Salinger (2)

2.2 The Brief Introduction to The Catcher In The Rye (4)

2.3 The Writing Style of The Catcher In The Rye (5)

2.4 A Brief Introduction to Eight Stages of Human-Beings’ Personality

Development (7)

III. The Development of Holden’s Personality in The Catcher In The Rye (10)

3.1 The Mental Changes of Holden (10)

3.1.1 The Transition from Yearning to Loss (10)

3.1.2 The Transition from Rebellion to Compromise (11)

3.2 An Analy sis of the Reasons of Holden’s Mental Change (14)

3.2.1 The Social Reasons (14)

3.2.2 The educational reasons (15)

3.2.3 The Lack of Parental Care (17)

3.2.4 Fidelity-Identity Vs Role Confusion (18)

3.3 The Social Significance of Teenager’s Personality Education (19)

IV. Conclusion (23)

References (24)

I.Introduction

Jerome David Salinger was one of the famous writers in America. The Catcher in the Rye was the most influential work of J. D. Slinger. Holden was a 16-year-old high school student. He was born in an affluent middle class family in New York. His parents and teachers forced him to work hard, in order to be a successful man, so as to buy a Cadillac in future. He abhorred everything in school. He was expelled from Pencey School for his bad academic performance. Holden packed up and left this school. He spent three days in New York. These three days were full of loneliness. Holden lived in the dilapidated Edmont Hotel. He stayed at the movie theater to kill time. Gradually he had fallen into bad habits such as smoking and drinking. He often used crude language. But in fact, Holden wanted to escape from the adult word. Finally, this irreconcilable contradiction caused his spiritual collapse and he had to be in a mental hospital.

This thesis can be divided into four parts. It the first part, the book and the structure of the whole paper will be introduced. In the part of literature review, J. D. Salinger and one of his masterpieces The Catcher in the Rye and the writing characteristics of The Catcher in the Rye will be introduced, and there is a brief introduction to eight stages of human beings’ personality development. In the third part, the development of Holden’s personality in The Catcher in the Rye will be analyzed and the social significance of teenager’s personality education will be discussed. In the last part, a conclusion will be made.