Representation of Holden Caulfield as a Problematic Adolescent in J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye

Year 2014, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, - 17, 11.07.2016

Karam Nayebpour Ali İhsan Aygül

Abstract

This paper examines Holden Caulfield’s adolescent problems in J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. The paper argues that the psychological or mental states of the central, adolescent narrator-character together with the represented dominant social structure prevent Holden’s psychological development alienating him from the society. The present paper moreover holds that Holden’s adolescent problems and his maladjustment into the represented fictional society are mainly caused by the adult world or the established dominant conventions. The paper therefore firstly explores some terminologies related with the issue of adolescence period and the problems related with that relying on the terminologies offered primarily by the critics David Elkind, Erik Erikson and Kojin Karatani. Secondly, the paper, focusing on the textual and contextual elements, analyses Holden’s adolescent problems within the fictional society focusing respectively on his egocentricism, ego identity and repudiation of the adulthood and finally his state as a real child.

Keywords

Adolescent Problems, Egocentrism, Ego Identity, Repudiation of Adulthood, Real Child, Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

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