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Holden as the Misfit Hero – Focus on the Alienation Theme of >The Catcher in the Rye< [霍尔顿:一个不合时宜的主人公 – 聚焦《麦田里的守望者》的异化主题], Master thesis, English Language and Literature, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China 2019 [application of Fromm's theories to art].

  • 《麦田里的守望者》是美国作家杰罗姆•大卫•塞林格于1951年出版的小说,至今影响深远。小说以第一人称的视角讲述了一个十六岁青少年霍尔顿•考菲尔德三天多噩梦般的历程。霍尔顿亲眼目睹了腐朽而堕落的城市生活以及人们的虚伪与假模假式。故事的叙述开始于由于考试不及格而要退学的他在潘西中学的最后一天,结束于他在一家疗养院接受治疗。在三天的游荡里,霍尔顿面对社会的异化力量感到无比沮丧与困惑,他的情绪几近失控。然而,他没有选择屈服于这个异化的社会,而是勇敢地与其进行斗争。二十世纪中期,美国社会累积着许多问题。第二次世界大战后的美国积累了大量财富,经济技术的迅猛发展给人们的生活方式和思维方式带来了巨大的变化。物质主义和享乐主义盛行,市场和公众舆论成为人们无意识顺从的匿名权威。异化已经不仅仅是个别现象,而是成为了一种社会现象。事实上,异化并不是现代才出现的现象,而是一个由来已久的概念。结合异化理论在社会学领域的研究,我们可以得出异化的一般定义:异化表示人类自身活动的结果发展成为一种陌生的力量,监督并反对着他,而不为他所控制。异化的人感受到自己是一个物体,一个商品,一个工具,他不能体会到自己是一个主动的执行者从而丧失了自我感。作为一个即将迈入成年人世界的青少年,《麦田里的守望者》的主人公霍尔顿•考菲尔德对于自己在这个世界的身份感到困惑。他拒绝按照这个世界设定好的规则生活,坚守他内心认为重要的东西。在这个市场导向的社会,当其他人都努力达到社会成功的标准,霍尔顿的梦想却是成为一个麦田里的守望者,保护纯真的孩子们免于被虚伪和假模假式的成人世界所污染。社会的异化力量使得他的内心充满困惑和冲突,他与周围的世界始终存在着一种疏离感。当其他人都努力适应现代社会的模式,他对自我的追寻和对异化的反抗使他成为了一个不合时宜的主人公。本文梳理了异化理论的起源与发展,以美国社会学家艾瑞克•弗洛姆的理论为主要理论基础,结合特定的时代背景聚焦《麦田里的守望者》中的异化主题。论文分析了小说所展现的三个异化层面:标准化的教育,规范化的社会和异化的人与人之间的关系,探讨了无处不在的异化力量下霍尔顿充满着矛盾和冲突的心理状态,最后聚焦于霍尔顿通过他毅然决然的逃离,对爱的坚守以及对自然的依恋对异化力量勇敢的反叛。本文通过分析一个十六岁青少年面对社会异化力量的心理历程和实际行动,总结了抵抗异化的更具实践意义的方式,以期对当代青少年有借鉴和启发意义。
  • >The Catcher in the Rye<, a 1951 novel by American author J. D. Salinger, remains influential and enduring until now. It deals with the nightmarish three-day journey of a sixteen-year-old adolescent called Holden Caulfield from the first-person perspective. Holden has witnessed how decadent and degenerate that the city life is and how phony and hypocritical those citizens are. The narration starts with Holden‘s last day at Pencey Prep after flunking out it because of his poor academic performance and ends up with his therapy in a mental hospital. In the three-day wandering, Holden feels overwhelmingly depressed and confused confronted with the forces of alienation in the society and his emotion seems increasingly out of control. Nevertheless, Holden is determined to fight against the alienating society courageously instead of conforming to it. In the middle of the twentieth century, many social problems have accumulated in America. America after the Second World War has amassed great sums of wealth. The rapid development of economy and technology brought enormous changes to the modes of thinking and the lifestyles of people. Materialism and hedonism prevailed in the society. The market and public opinion developed into the anonymous authority to which people conformed unconsciously. Alienation has turned into a social phenomenon rather than an individual phenomenon. As a matter of fact, alienation is by no means a modern phenomenon but experiences a long history. Based on the alienation theory in the field of sociology, we can derive a general definition of alienation which means a condition of man where his own act becomes an alien power to him, standing over and against him instead of being ruled by him. The alienated person experiences himself as a thing, a commodity, and an instrument but fails to experience him as an active agent, as a result of which he loses the sense of self. As an adolescent who is about to transit into his adulthood, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of >The Catcher in the Rye< is confused of his own identity in the world. Rebelling against the rules of the world, he seeks the sense of self and holds on to what he considers as significant. In the market-oriented society, when others make efforts to meet the social standard of success, Holden dreams of being a catcher in the rye to protect the innocent children from the contamination of the hypocritical and phony adulthood. The alienated society arouses inner conflicts and struggles of Holden and leads to a sense of detachment between him and the world around him. While others strive to fit into the current patterns of modern life, Holden‘s search for the sense of self and his rebellion against alienation turn him into a misfit hero. In this thesis, the origin and development of the alienation theory are explored and the theories of American sociologist Erich Fromm constitute the main theoretical framework, based on which the theme of alienation in >The Catcher in the Rye< is studied within specific historical background. This thesis unfolds three perspectives of alienation in the novel including the conforming society, the standardized education and the alienated interpersonal relationship, explores Holden‘s psychological condition which is permeated with conflicts and contradiction under the pervasive forces of alienation, and finally focuses on Holden‘s courageous rebellion against alienation by means of his resolute escape, his faith in love and his attachment to nature. Through analyzing a sixteen-year-old adolescent‘s psychological experience and physical action in the face of the forces of alienation in the society, this thesis concludes a more practical way to fight against alienation, from which the contemporary adolescents can obtain an inspiration. [Author’s translation]

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Metadaten
Author:Ying Jiang
Document Type:Dissertations
Language:Chinese
Year of first Publication:2019
Release Date:2020/11/03
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Jiang_Ying_2019
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Dissertations / Dissertationen
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Dissertations / Dissertationen
Licence (German):
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