AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEENAGERS’ PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE CATCHER IN THE RYEByJIANG LeyaoAbstractThe 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ContentsI. 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’ PersonalityDevelopment (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.IntroductionJerome 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.II.Literature Review2.1 The Brief Introduction to J. D. SalingerJerome David Salinger was one of the great writers in America. He was born in New York City, on New Year's Day, 1919 and grew up in Manhattan, New York.When he was young, Salinger attended public schools on the West Side of Manhattan. Then in 1932, his family moved to Park Avenue, and Salinger was enrolled at the McBurney School, a nearby private school. Salinger had trouble fitting at his new school and, he wrote for the school newspaper and performed various roles in school plays. At that, Salinger showed an inherent talent for writing and drama, though his father opposed the idea of J.D.'s becoming an actor. Then his parents enrolled him at a military school. Though he had written for the school newspaper at McBurney, Salinger began writing stories at night, with the aid of a flashlight. Salinger was the literary editor of the class yearbook. He graduated in 1936. Salinger started his freshman year at New York University in 1936. He majored in special education but dropped out the following spring. That fall, his father urged him to learn about the business, and he went to work at a company in Vienna, Austria. He left Austria one month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany. In 1939, Salinger attended an evening writing class at Columbia University. In New York, Salinger began to write articles to magazines so as to make a living. Salinger’s writing was discontinued by World War II. In 1942, he joined the army. Later he wrote many works on war. In 1946, Salinger went back to New York and started writing. His first novel The Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951, was a great success. The novel's plotis simple, detailing 16-year-old Holden's experiences in New York City following his expulsion and departure from an elite college preparatory school. Not only was he expelled from his current school, he had also been expelled from three previous schools. The book is more notable for the persona voice of its first-person narrator, Holden. He serves as an insightful narrator who explains on the importance of loyalty, the untruth of adulthood, and his own duplicity.J. D. Slinger has some other famous works. Following The Catcher in the Rey published in 1951, Nine Story was published in 1953, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour, were published in 1963. All subsequent works published after The Catcher in the Rye are short stories. His last original work was published in 1965.The Catcher in the Rye made Salinger famous throughout the world. But since 1953 for the last few decades, he was a recluse in his New Hampshire home, refusing interview and any other forms of contact with the press and outside. He was writing little, but many people eagerly sought for his presence and his writing.J .D. Slinger is regarded as one of the most important writers in America after the World War Ⅱ.The Catcher in the Rye is the most influential work by J. D. Slinger. Catcher means a position in a baseball team, the player who is stationed behind home plate and who catches the balls that the pitcher throws. The Catcher in the Rye has had remarkable cultural influences, and works inspired by this novel have formed their own writing style. Many writers began to write the similar theme to highlight the dilemma of Holden's state, in between adolescence and adulthood. They emphasizedthe inner qualities of kids, such as innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity and wished to find those attributes in adults.The influence of Holden is so profound that it can be found nearly in every aspects of American culture, even today. Beyond all doubts, J. D. Slinger had successfully created vivid and realistic image of Holden.2.2 The Brief Introduction to The Catcher In The RyeIt was a story about Holden’s quixotic experience in New York, which took place in December 1949. Holden began his story from Pency Prep, a private school. Having been expelled for falling four of his five classes, he went to see Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. Spencer read Holden’s history paper loudly, which made Holden irritated. Before he left, he wrote a note to Spencer, so his teacher wouldn’t feel bad about his failure in study. Holden returned to his dormitory. He abhorred everything in his dormitory. His dorm neighbor Ackley bullied him. He fought with his roommates Stradlater. Stradlater was going to make a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl he knew several months ago. When Stradlater indicated that he might have had sex with her, Holden became enraged. Holden decided he had had enough of Pency. He left there and return to New York.He decided to stay at the Edmond Hotel. He spent an evening dancing with three women but he was disappointed that they had no interests in communicating and cannot come along together. Holden invited a prostitute named Sunny to visit his room. When Sunny entered the room, Holden’s attitude changed. He was full of sympathy for her. When he told her that all he wanted to do is to find someone to talkwith, she became annoyed and left. The three days in New York were full of loneliness. Exhausted both physically and mentally, Holden headed home to see his sister, Phoebe. In his mind, Phoebe was the only person with whom he seemed to be able to communicate. He shared a fantasy with Phoebe. He pictured himself as a catcher and saved children. His job was to protect children. In his mind, the catcher in the rye meant to save children from losing their innocence and kindness.When his parents came home, he slipped out and visited his former and much-admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini. Antolini advised Holden to give up his fantasy. When he waked up at right, he realized that the teacher was a homosexual. He left and spent his last afternoon wandering in the city. Holden made the decision that he will go to the west to make a living and be a deaf and dumb people. Phoebe wanted to go with Holden. Holden persuaded her to give up the trip to west. Phoebe felt down. Holden tried to pacify her by taking her to the Central Park Zoo. While watching Phoebe, Holden realized that he couldn’t be the catcher in the rye and that he was in need of help. At the end of the story, Holden decided to get rid of the cruel reality. He faked illness to get rid of the harsh reality and lived in a mental hospital, and indicated that he’ll be attending another school in September.2.3 The Writing Style of The Catcher In The RyeThis book was written in a first-person narrative style from the point of view of protagonists, Holden Caulfield, following the process of his psychological development. In this way, he could make this story more sincere and profound. J. D. Salinger used a writing style known as stream of consciousness.Stream of consciousness is a narrative device that attempts to give the written equivalence of the character’s thought process, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions. The Catcher in the Rye is not a typical novel in the technique of stream of consciousness. But under the influence of stream of consciousness literature, J. D. Salinger used technique of stream of consciousness to show Holden’s inner heart. For example, J. D. Salinger depicted Holden’s spiritual changes by means of inner monologue. Interior monologue is a literary attempt to present the mental processes of character before they are formed into regular patterns of speech or logical sequence. In chapter 18, after the movie was over, Holden started walking down to the Wicker Bar, where he was supposed to meet old Carl Luce, and while he walking through the road he thought about war. He expressed his opinions about war. Interior monologue showed Holden’s antipathy towards the reality.The language of The Catcher in the Rye was an actual artistic type of informal, colloquial, teenage American spoken speech. J. D. Salinger used a lot of slang in this book. For example, in the chapter 23, Slinger often used vulgar and slangy language. Holden oft en used “damn” “goddam” “hell”. For example, “I was smoking so damn much.” “I got my goldamn bags at the station.” “Where the hell are ya?” “It was z helluza lot easier getting out if the house than it was getting in, for some reasons.” He lived in the society infected with some unhealthy social tendencies such as smoking, alcohol and using crude language. On the other hand, he felt depressed. He used crude language to express dissatisfaction with society. These descriptions accurately embodied the unbalanced mind of Holden.J. D. Salinger used symbolism to depict the trait of character. Author always used association and correlation to display the mind and philosophy behind things. In The Catcher in the Rye, there are abundant of symbolism. Symbolism aims at revealing the hidden meaning behind phenomenon or objects. Slinger used these symbols to achieve the powerful effect of the novel.An important image in the whole novel was “the red hunter hat”. It was a symbol of uniqueness and individuality, and showed that Holden desires to be different from people around him. He wanted to be an independent person. He wanted to seclude from the society.Holden said he wanted to be a man who was able to protect children from falling off the edge of the cliff by “catching” them if they were on the verge of tumbling over. Catcher was a position in a baseball team of the player who was stationed behind home plate and who caught the balls that the pitcher throws. In fact, Holden wanted to catch children before they lost their inner qualities such as innocence and kindness and gradually came into the adult world.In this book, J.D. Salinger shows his particular creative talent. To some extent, the success of The Catcher in the Rye comes from his revelation of the mentally stress and use of colloquial language to show Holden psychological activity. Beyond any doubt, without those write characteristics, this novel will lose its essential and powerful effect to expose the theme of the novel.2.4 A Brief Introduction to Eight Stages of Human-Beings’ Personality DevelopmentE.H Erikson is a German-born American psychologist and psychoanalyst, known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He divided the process of human-beings’ self-consciousness development into eight stages. Erikson’s theory of personality provides theoretical basis for different age’s education content. Any education error will lead to a person’s personality disorders.The development of personality can be divided into eight stages. Stage One: Trust vs. Mistrust (oral-sensory, birth-2years). During this stage, children are absolutely dependent on others. Babies need adequate warmth, touching, love and physical care. Stage Two: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (muscular-anal, 2-4years), overprotective parents may cause Children feel shameful and to doubt their own abilities. Stage three: Initiative vs. Guilt (preschool, 4-5 years) , during this stage, children should be given freedom to play and ask questions. Stage four: Industry vs. Inferiority (latency, 5-12 years). If children are praised for productive activities they will be come more creative. Stage five: Identity vs. Role Confusion (adolescence, 13-19 years). Up to this stage, adolescent is neither a child nor an adult, life is definitely getting more complex as they attempt to find their identity. Grapple with moral issues and struggle with social interactions. When adolescents are unsure of where they are going and who they are, they may feel role confusion. Stage Six: Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood, 20-24, or 20-39 years). Up to this stage, people have ability to care about others and to share experiences with them. Stage Seven：Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood, 25-64, or 40-64 years). During this stage, people have interests in guiding the next generation. Stage eight: EgoIntegrity vs. Despair (late adulthood, 65-death). Integrity developed when people have lived responsibly. When previous life events are viewed with regret they may feel despaired.According to this theory, teenager’s growing environment is crucial to adolescent development and help teenagers to create a source of self-awareness and identity. This thesis will use the 5th stage theory to analyze Holden’s personality development. Teenagers always ask themselves some questions. Such as who am I, how do I fit in the society? Where am I going in life? Youth is a unique time in person’s life. It is a bridge between childhood and adulthood. When teenagers experience the transition from childhood to adulthood, they ponder the roles they will play in the adult word.During this period, teenagers often feel confused. They always imitate adult’s behavior. If adults allow their children to explore, children will achieve their own identity. However, if adults continually push children to conform to their views, the teens will develop identity confusion. After being expelled from Pencey School Holden was eager to communicate with others. But he was failed to do that. He wanted to be a catcher in the rye. He wanted to be a man who could protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff. In fact, Holden wanted to catch children before they lost their attributes such as innocence and kindness and came into adult word. Unfortunately, he realized that he can’t be a catcher in the rye. When he confronted with confusion no one can help him. Finally, in reality, nobody can understand him and he cannot gain love from his parents and teachers and chose an escaping way to get rid of the reality.III.T he Development of Holden’s Personality in The Catcher In The Rye3.1 The Mental Changes of HoldenIn this novel, Holden’s mentality took place great changes. He was looking forward to a simple and peaceful life. But the society was so cold and cruel that Holden’s dream finally disillusioned. Author will analy ze Holden’s mental changes in this chapter.3.1.1 The Transition from Yearning to LossAt the beginning of this novel Holden was a kind and innocent boy. He went to see Mr. Spencer, his history teacher before he left Pencey. He donated to the nuns. Holden was a good boy in a dark world. He tried to find the “Pure Land” in an adult world. In his mind, children are the purest and kindest people in this world. He wanted to be a catcher in the rye in order to be the guardian of honesty and the protector of innocents. But the real world permeated with hypocrisy and selfishness. His way to fight against the cruel reality is by showing indifferent and rebellious attitudes toward all people around his. He was an upright guy, he kept his belief faithfully. But when he found no one can survive in this cruel world without lying, he was lost. And he was completely defeated by the brutal reality.Holden was yearning for a simple life. He wanted to live with his lover in “Pure Land.” Money didn’t always bring happiness. The happiest things in his life were stay with his family peacefully and accompany his friends when they were blue. He was lost in the real world. The three day’s wandering in New York reflected his loss in thelife. For example, he told Sally his idea when they were dating. He thought that they would stay in a cabin and stuff liked that till the dough run out. Then he could get a job somewhere. In winter he could chop the wood. Holden was excited. He believed they could have a terrific time. He even begged for Sally. But Sally said “You can’t just do that.” She sounded impatiently as wel l. No one knew how to respond to his crying for sympathy. Sally showed maturity in some way. Holden had to give up. He couldn’t understand Sally’s plight and couldn’t find out a better solution to their problems.About the family, he has the magnificent fantasy. He was yearning for the warmth of family and the company of relatives. When walking along the street Holden saw a family. There were a father, a mother and a kid. He assumed that parents were neglecting the boy who walked along the curb singing to himself. But his assumptions have no basis. Holden fantasized he would be a catcher and save children. For a moment he was charmed with his fantasy of self-contained boy whose parents loved him so much. Holden was eager to be a catcher in the rye, so he could save the growing kids who were in danger of running off the cliff. He was eager to protect children. He wanted to be the protector. But in fact, he also needed to be saved. No one needed a catcher to keep them from danger.Holden conceived that people should live together in harmony. He has a beautiful and peaceful image of world. But, he was depressed and in a confused state of mind. The transition from yearning to loss led to his rebellion and confusion.3.1.2 The Transition from Rebellion to CompromiseHolden hated everything around him. He couldn’t integrate into the society.At beginning, he wanted to be a malcontent. He always used crude words curse everything. For example, he cursed “I goddam manager of the fencing team.” “I was smoking so damn m uch.” He showed dissatisfaction with the real world. He was so cynical. Holden accused the adult of being too preoccupied with financial gains and higher social status. He thought that higher social status and dignity were unimportant.In his world, only children were innocent. So he wished all children could keep innocence and kindness forever. He tried to prevent all children from becoming adults. The strongest evidence to show that Holden had to compromise to society occurred in the park. “All the kids kept trying to garb for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, an d not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” He rebelled against reality. In his mind, he could prevent all children from growing. He was eager to protect all children but he found it was impossible.In fact, all children must become adults. Their kindness and honesty must experience severe tests. Some of them may fall off----fall into the false adult’s world. Some of them may never grab for the gold ring---they never realize their dreams. There is a far distance between dream and reality. Holden detested this society. But he must comprise to the adult world.In Holden’s mind, school was a terrible place. He disliked his teachers and classmates in school. After he was expelled from Pencey School, he visited his teacher. He told his teacher why he quit from the former school. One of the biggest reasons he left Elkton Hills was because he was surrounded by phonies. In his mind, his headmaster, Mr. Haas was a phony double-faced person. Mr. Haas showed different attitudes to different students’ parents. If a boy’s mother was sort of fat or corny-looking or something, old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them phony smile and then he’d go away. But he showed great respects and politeness to the people who had higher social status and talked with them for long time. These made Holden go crazy. “It drives me crazy.” “I hated that goddam Elkton Hills. He chose quitting to rebel hypocrisy in Elkton Hills.Finally, he found Pencey also a dark place. Holden told his sister Pencey was one of the worst schools he ever enrolled. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. And they had this goddam secret fraternity. He tried to fight against school. So he chose leaving from Pencey. At a night, he suddenly decided wha t he’d really do. He got out from Pencey. He took a train to New York. He played truant once again. He escaped from cruel reality. He refused to become one of his classmates. In his mind, only quitting school can make him feel relaxed. In fact, all his behaviors were in vain. He found that not only school but also the real world was full of deceit and betrayal. Holden was very honest, but his integrity is often questioned. At last chapter, a psychoanalyst guy asked Holden if he was going to change himself when he went back to school next September. Although Holden thought it’s such a stupid question, He had to goback to school. He finally comprised to school. At this same time, he realized he belonged to this society. Finally, he had to give up his fantasy. All his rebellious behaviors are ended in compromise.3.2 An Analysis of the Reasons of Holden’s Mental ChangeHaving analyzed Holden’s mental changes, the author will analyze the reasons of Holden’s changes in this part. All these reasons including the s ocial reasons, education reasons, parental reasons and mental reason.3.2.1 The Social ReasonsThe reasons of Holden’s tragedy are complex, but one of the main reasons was social changes occurred in America after the World WarⅡ.As we all known, during the 1950s, American social ideology changed quickly. After the World War ⅡAmerica became the richest country in the world. The economy had already recovered from the Great Depression. American’s living standard was improved rapidly. Many people seized the opportunity to pursue the material pleasures. But more and more people lacked the spiritual belief. There was a spiritual and cultural crisis in American society during that time. The endless pursuit of material wealth became people’s living purpose. Sincere and love communication between people became a dream. People didn’t have interests in spiritual needs. Holden’s situations were all the problems confronted by his generation of youth.Holden has been expelled from school several times, but his parents never tried to find the real reasons. They never gave Holden proper education and guidance. They never knew Holden’s inner world. They just noticed Holden was expelled from school.His father even wanted to “kill” him. Obviously, Holden was lack of parental care.Communicating with his parents was so difficult. On the other hand, he didn’t have a real friend to talk with. In New York, Holden took subway as well as taxis, and wanted to communicate with others, but he failed again and again. So he realized that sincere communication was impossible in the society. He desired for understanding and communication. But reality gave him severe emotional blow. In Holden’s opinion, the true reason that communication was so difficult was vulgar society. Materialism pre occupied everyone’s heart. Holden was aware of hypocrisy everywhere. The expansion of the materialism suppressed human nature. People pursued material wealth by all kind of means. Holden refused to accept the arrangement from the society. He was looking forward to a simple and natural life. However, after the World WarⅡ, America became a materialistic and cold world. It was quite hard for Holden to make his dream come true. Finally, reality forced him to abandon his ideal.Holden suffered from conflict between materialism and spiritual wealth, the reality and the ideal. He struggled in the dilemma between ideal and reality. In this sense, the fundamental social changes led to Holden’s misfortune. His tragedy also was the tragedy of American society in the 1950s.3.2.2 The educational reasonsThe incorrect educational guidance is another factor caused Holden’s tragedy.Holden studied in Pencey School. This school had high reputation in education. It is supposed to deliver high quality education for all students. But in fact, unhealthy social customs were prevailing here. Therefore, people around Holden were allphonies. Schoolmates talked about girls, liquor and sex all day. “All they do is study so that can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddamn Ca dillac someday.” Holden said: “Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has----I’m not kidding.” Obviously, Pency School was not an ideal place for Holden. He looked down upon those hypocritical teachers and schoolmates. Holden was incompatible with surrounding environment. Of course, no one real understood him in school.There an old saying in China: Teacher is the one who could propagate the doctrine, impart professional knowledge, and resolve doubts. Teacher plays a crucial role in everyone’s growing path. But Holden’s teachers and classmates disappointed him again and again.Antolini was an important person for Holden. He was Holden’s teacher. Holden respected him very much. Therefore, after Holden experienced a series of failures in New York, he went to Antolini’s home. But Antolini told Holden: “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is t hat he wants to live humbly for one.” Obviously, in his mind Holden was “immature” and Antolini himself was the symbol of “the mature”. From the view of adult world he was right, but Antolini could not help Holden to clarify confusion and self-contradiction. Holden was not willing to live meaninglessly, just like most people, so he was lonely and painful. His most respected teacher told him to comply with society, while he felt confused and disappointed. Especially when he woke up at night, he found the tea cher might be gay, and he escaped from Antolini’s apartment。