A Taoist Interpretation of The Catcher in the Rye

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摘 要

杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格是美国文学史上著名的小说家。《麦田里的守望者》是塞林格唯一一部长篇小说，它一经出版就获得了巨大的成功。《麦田里的守望者》的创作背景是二战后的美国。当时美国经济高速发展，人们过上了富裕的生活。但是当人们沉浸在物质享受中时，他们的精神生活变得越来越空洞。在小说中，作者形象地刻画了叛逆少年霍尔顿，描述了霍尔顿游荡于纽约街头三天两夜的所见所闻。小说中体现出的一些主题，如回归自然与和平主义，都与中国道家思想很接近。本文旨在通过对小说中一些细节内容的分析来展现塞林格的道家思想。

关键词：道家思想；杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格；回归自然；和平主义；《麦田里的

守望者》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 An introduction to the author 1

1.2 An overview of The Catcher in the Rye 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 The major research findings of The Catcher in the Rye 2

2.2 An introduction to Taoism 2

3. Taoism in The Catcher in the Rye 3

3.1 Holden"s pursuit of a simple life 3

3.2 Holden"s belief of pacifism 4

3.3 Holden"s ideal of returning to nature 5

4. Taoism and Salinger 6

4.1 The writing background of The Catcher in the Rye 6

4.2 The influence of Taoism on Salinger 7

5. Conclusion 8

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction

1.1 An introduction to the author

Jerome David Salinger is a famous American writer, born on January 1, 1919 in New York. His father was a Jewish importer. Although Salinger was born in a rich family, he had an unhappy childhood. When he was 15, he was sent to a military school in Pennsylvania. In 1936, Salinger graduated from the military school and got the diploma which is said to be the only one in his life. Then he got in some schools, but he could not finish any of them. In this case. Salinger was sent to Poland to learn ham business in 1937. Although Salinger went around, he still persisted in writing. But World War II interrupted it. In 1942, Salinger joined the army and in 1944, he went to the battlefields of Europe engaging in counter-espionage work. In 1946, Salinger retired and returned to New York to start to concentrate on writing. His first novel The catcher in the Rye, published in 1951, obtained a great success.

1.2 An overview of The Catcher in the Rye

The leading character in this novel is a middle school student called Holden, who was born in a rich middle-class family. Although Holden was only sixteen years old, he did not want to continue his study. Holden was tired of everything at school and he was dismissed after that term because he failed in four subjects of the five. Before this, Holden had been dismissed for three times. However, Holden did not feel sad about this and he left school in advance for New York. Holden dare not return home because he was afraid of being scolded by his parents. Therefore, Holden had to louse around in New York. In this process, Holden fully realized the ugliness and inveracity of human beings. Holden worried that he was going to die, so he decided to take a risk to go home. He wanted to say goodbye to his sister Phoebe. After that, Holden wanted to go to the west to make a living and he planed to pretend to be a deaf-mute there. But Holden wanted to meet Phoebe again before leaving here. After a series of setbacks, Holden met Phoebe finally. However, Phoebe dragged a suitcase full of her clothes and she decided to follow Holden to go to the west together. At last, Holden had to give up his plan because he could not persuade his sister not to go with him. Afterwards, Holden went home and went through a serious illness, then he was sent to a sanatorium.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The major research findings of The Catcher in the Rye

As a classical work, The Catcher in the Rye gains a lot of attention from many scholars. This novel not only occupies an important position in the American contemporary literature history, but also has a great influence in China. There are up to three hundred research articles about this novel domestically. The research on The Catcher in the Rye has experienced thirty years’ development and it can be divided into two stages: at the first stage, scholars focus on the translation, significance, theme and the hero’s image with traditional research method; the second stage can be considered as a brand-new one, because scholars start to do researches from new angles, such as narratology and ecological criticism, which is consistent with the studies of the development of western literature.

This article analyses The Catcher in the Rye from the angles of humanity and ecology. Having got elicitations from age-old Taoism, I combine the contents of The Catcher in the Rye with the thought of Taoism. I want to draw human beings’ attention to protecting the nature by this article. We should live in harmony with nature and try to return to nature.

2.2 An introduction to Taoism

Taoism is a school of thought in the early Qin dynasty. The main representatives of Taoism are Lao Tzu, Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu, etc. Taoism considers Tao, inaction and nature as core ideas. Accordingly, Taoism puts forward some political and military strategies, such as governing by doing nothing that goes against nature and conquering the unyielding with the yielding. Taoism starts to flourish in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, the development of Taoism suffers setbacks after Qin dynasty is founded because the dominators of Qin dynasty chooses to revere Legalism and restrains the development of other schools of thought. This situation is changed after Han dynasty is founded. Due to the destruction of secular wars, Han dynasty needs a process of recuperation. In this case, the dominators start to consider Taoism as statecraft. Taoism enters into a period of great prosperity. But this situation does not last long. After Emperor Wu of Han holds power, he adopts Dong Zhongshu’s advice and praises the Confucian school highly. The development of Taoism is limited again. For a long time after that, Taoism is in a period of slow development. It continues until the late Qin dynasty. Suffering from the impact of western civilization, the ruling order based on Confucian school begins to collapse. At the same time, Taoism starts to resurge. From then to now, Taoism has continued to evolve. Some theories of Taoism are also put into use and popularized.

3. Taoism in The Catcher in the Rye

3.1 Holden"s pursuit of a simple life

Taoism advocates that people should turn their backs on the advancements of civilization and live as simply as possible. In The Catcher in the Rye, this thought is revealed profoundly. Most Americans seek wealth. They enjoy the cozy life brought by civilization.

Cars play an important role in Americans’ life. Most Americans are crazy about cars. If they have much money, the first thought of them is buying themselves a new car. Even the teachers can not avoid this. Holden’s teachers in Pencey taught him “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day.”(Salinger 1951: 139) From this we can feel deeply the frantic pursuits to fame and wealth. However, Holden did not like cars at all. They did not even interest him. Compared with cars, Holden would rather choose a horse. Holden wanted to get rid of the constraint of modern civilization through this way and he longed for the most natural things.

In the novel, the author referred to the museum near Phoebe’s school. You can see Indian and Eskimo in it. “Then you’d pass by this big glass case, with Indians inside it rubbing sticks together to make a fire, and a squaw weaving a blanket.”, “Then, just before you went inside the auditorium, right near the doors, you passed this Eskimo. He was sitting over a hole in this icy lake, and he was fishing through it. He had about two fish right next to the hole, that he’d already caught.”(Salinger 1951: 128) The author described their simple lives. From these we can feel the desire of Holden and Salinger for a simple life.

In addition, as described in the novel, Holden originally planned to go to the west and pretended to be a deaf-mute so as not to talk with anyone. He could look for a job and build a small house with the money earned from working. If he felt lonely, he could marry with a deaf and dumb girl like him. Holden even imagined the life after he had children. He wanted to hide them, buy them many books and teach them to read and write personally. Although such a thought of Holden sounds a little absurd, this still reflect Holden’s wish for freedom and a simple life.

3.2 Holden"s belief of pacifism

Taoism advocates inaction and dominators should allow people to rehabilitate. That is to say, Taoism opposes wars. We can also feel this in The Catcher in the Rye. As Holden said in the novel, “I’d only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I’m not too tough. I’m a pacifist, if you want to know the truth.”(Salinger 1951: 47), Salinger wanted to express his anti-war ideas through Holden. Because Salinger experienced the World War II, he perceived the brutality of war. After Salinger retired from the army and focused on writing, he wrote many articles about war in order to advocate the anti-war sentiment. In the novel, Holden preferred being shot to participating in a war, “It wouldn’t be too bad if they’d just take you out and shoot you or something, but you have to stay in the Army so goddam long.”(Salinger 1951: 148) In Holden’s view, nothing could be worse than wars. Holden’s craziest thought was that if there was ever another war, he was going to volunteer for the task to sit right the hell on top of an atomic bomb. He even took his brother D.B. as an example, although D.B. joined the army before, he was not interested in the army at all, “He once told Allie and I that if he’d had to shoot anybody, he wouldn’t’ve know which direction to shoot in. He said the Army was practically as full of bastards as the Nazis were.”(Salinger 1951: 149) These words all reflect that Holden hates the war very much.

3.3 Holden"s ideal of returning to nature

Taoism’s basic view is that Tao is the origin of the world and everything has its own law. Taoism thinks that human beings should live in harmony with nature and be close to nature. We can feel this deeply in The Catcher in the Rye.

Ducks were mentioned many times in the novel. Ducks appeared in the second section of the novel for the first time. At that time, Holden was just dismissed by his school. Before he left school, he went to visit his history teacher Mr. Spencer. Ducks appeared for the second and third time in taxis. Because Holden did not dare to go home, he wandered in the street in New York. In this process, he asked two taxi drivers about the ducks. Ducks appeared for the last time in the twentieth section. Holden walked to the park to look for ducks. The repeating appearance of ducks reflected that Holden paid close attention to the nature. Although Holden was dismissed by school and rambled in the street, he did not care about these at all. Holden’s indifference to school work and his focus on ducks formed a strong contrast.

In the fifth section, Holden planned to go to see a film with his friends. When he waited for Ackley, the author described a detail, “The snow was very good for packing. I didn’t throw it at anything, though. I started to throw it at a car that was parked across the street. But I changed my mind. The car looked so nice and white. Then I started to throw it at a hydrant, but that looked too nice and white, too. Finally I didn’t throw it at anything.”(Salinger 1951: 37) Holden did not want to damage those natural things. This reflected that he cherished the nature and hoped to protect beautiful things.

Holden’s love for nature could be also seen in his plan and dream. Holden did not want to go back to school any more. Instead, he wanted to go to the west to live a new life. He planned to find a job there and built a small house with the money he earned. Holden meant to build his house near the woods, where he could enjoy enough sunshine. And Holden’s dream was to become a catcher in the Rye, “ Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going, I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”(Salinger 1951: 185) Holden’s dream was very common. Because Holden was tired of the society, he wanted to leave it and returned to nature.

Holden’s aversion to the society even extended to the way of burial after he died, “I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery.”(Salinger 1951: 166) Holden preferred being thrown into the river to being buried in the cemetery. This showed Holden’s determination to make a thorough break with the society.

4. Taoism and Salinger

4.1 The writing background of The Catcher in the Rye

In the 1950s, the economy of the United States went through a rapid development period. With the help of World War II, the industry of steel, motor and electronic gained great development. Americans’ lives were much richer than before. However, the spiritual lives of Americans became poor and empty.

First, in the early 1950s, U.S. Government pursued the policies of Truman Doctrine and McCarthyism, which curbed communism. The USA intensified the cold war internationally and put down the progressive forces at home. In this case, Americans’ democratic rights were threatened a lot. Normal exchange of ideas and investigation of social problems transformed into overseeing and peaching with each other. Then many young people got rid of exalted belief and lost the aim of life. They messed about all the day and sought narcosis, comfort and amusement.

Second, after World War II, many new ideological trends became popular in America. During the war, massacre had a big effect on Americans. Someone started to suspect existant moral code and values. Existentialism thought that the world was unearthly and hostile; human beings were alone and life was painful. In addition, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, especially his theory about schizophrenia, was accepted by many Americans at that time.

Third, the rapid development of science made the society dehumanized. In the fragmented tech world, people were dominated by science and lost themselves gradually. The richness and cosiness in the material caused indifference between people and distress in personal spirit.

4.2 The influence of Taoism on Salinger

To a degree, the acceptance of Salinger to Taoism is affected by social environment of America at that time. In the 20th century, America developed rapidly. Americans had a rich life. Bu at the same time, people started to suspect traditional values and moral code. Americans experienced mental crisis. Having seen this, Salinger thought that in the industrialized capitalist society, rationalism and material civilization would come to an end. And this mental crisis could not be solved in the west. Therefore, Salinger went to the east to look for a new way out to save Americans’ thoughts. In this case, Salinger started to get in touch with Taoism. He was deeply attracted by Taoism. Salinger found that eastern philosophy was more rational than those in the west. In the east, the relation between spirit and flesh was unified. On the contrary, the relation was opposite. Besides the acceptance to Taoism, Salinger applied the theory of Taoism to practice. He wanted to live a quiet life. Therefore, Salinger bought a large piece of land in the countryside of New Hampshire and built a little hut on the top of the mountain with many trees surrounding it. In addition, in order not to be disturbed by the outside world, Salinger built wire netting and installed annunciators. Salinger usually had a secluded life.

Taoism also has a big effect on Salinger in the respect of writing. In many works of Salinger, we can feel the great influence of Taoism on him. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger describes the image of Holden to express his thoughts of Taoism. Holden’s dream is to be a catcher in the rye. He loves the nature and wants to be close to it. Ducks are referred to three times. No matter where Holden is, he is all concerned with ducks. This reflects that Holden pays close attention to the nature. This thought of Holden is like the thought of returning to nature of Taoism. In addition, as mentioned in the novel, after Holden is dismissed, he no longer wants to go back to school. He wants to go to the west to live a secluded life. This kind of life is no other than pursued by Salinger. This is also consistent with the thought of pursuing a simple life of Taoism. Last but not least, in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden claim to be a pacificist. This is undoubtedly the most obvious reflection of Salinger’s thoughts. Salinger experienced the second World War and he realized the cruelty of war. Therefore, after he retired from army, Salinger spared no effort to advocate anti-war ideology. Salinger is a true pacificist.

5. Conclusion

Jerome David Salinger creates a lot of works all his life. As Salinger’s representative work, The Catcher in the Rye has been considered as a masterpiece in the history of human literature. Having experienced the second World War, Salinger completely felt the cruelness of war. After Salinger retired from the army, he started to live a Taoist life that was away from the modern society. After the war, the economy of America developed very fast. Americans lived a rich life. However, when Americans were immersed in enjoyment, their spirit became empty and lost. A faith crisis appeared in America. In this case, Salinger upholds the thoughts of Taoism, especially the thoughts of pursuing a simple life and returning to nature. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger describes many natural things rather than modern civilization, which aims to encourage people to be close to nature and protect it instead of seeking wealth and fame frantically. In addition, the author also writes Holden’s character and dream. These two are both consistent with Taoism. This thesis pays attention to the thoughts of Taoism reflected in The Catcher in the Rye. The focus of this thesis aims to draw people’s attention to the value of the nature. In today’s material-oriented society, people only attach importance to material life. They often achieve economic progress based on the destruction of the environment. This undoubtedly will make people’s thought degenerate. Therefore, when we pursue material comfort, we should not ignore spiritual life.

Works Cited

[1] Natchez, Jon, and Phillips Brian, etc. The Catcher in the Rye: Today’s Most

Popular Study Guides. Tianjin: Tianjin Science and Technology Press, 2003.

[2] Phillips, Dana. “Ecocriticism, literary theory, and the truth of ecology.” New

Literary History 3 (1999): 524.

[3] Salinger,J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951.

[4] 籍琰. 《〈麦田里的守望者〉的生态批评解读》. 文艺理论与批评，3（2012）：112-115.

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