In Search of Self—Salvation of Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye

HE Wei

【Abstract】This paper aims at analyzing Caulfields effort of self-salvation.Caulfield suffers the disillusionment of failing to find a savior in real life，then he tries to get himself out of spiritual trap； meanwhile，he imagines himself to be modern “Jesus Christ” to be other childrens savior.

【Key Word】savior； self-salvation； innocence； Garden of Eden

Holden Caulfield，hero of the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger，is eager to search a savior to bring him out of his spiritual trouble.Unfortunately，he is unable to get the emotional guidance around.Then，Caulfield finds himself into a dilemma，physically prepared but mentally unprepared for his adulthood.

1.Childhood： The Last Eden on Earth

The longing to back to childhood has existed in westerners minds for many centuries，and Heiserman and Miller once commented on this tradition in their articles，“Children and the loss of innocence have obsessed much of western literature at least since the Enlightenment….Emile，Candide，the young Wordsworth，Huck Finn，Caulfield--all lament or seek to a lost childhood….”.Caulfield is regarded as a Peter Pan-like figure in some critics eyes.Peter keeps away from the corruption of the real world to be in childhood for ever.The world of Peter Pan reminds us of the Garden of Eden.Everything was so simple and pure there.

In Caulfields eyes，children are Adam and Evil before eating the forbidden fruits，without knowing the concept of evil.Children are the symbol of goodness，innocence，always grateful and considerate.

Allie，Caulfields younger brother，died before entering the stage of adolescence，and then left a myth of forever childhood.Except Allie，no one around Caulfield can avoid being affected by the real world.He is not only keenly aware of all the phonies of the real world，but also strongly aware of the societys influence on himself.

In a sense，he is familiar with the tricks used by adults，because he is used to telling lies，and does not feel sorry for that，“once I get started，I can go one for hours if I feel like it.No kidding，hours”.For example，he despises his roommate Stradlater and Ackley，the guy next door，but he still tries to get along with them by hiding his contempt，and says the words against his original meaning.His familiarity with the adult tricks can be further proved by his communication with Mrs.Morrow，the mother of his classmate Ernest Morrow on his train to New York City.Firstly he tells this lady a false name as he usually does.Next，although he thinks that Ernest is “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey”，he uses many beautiful words about Ernest to flatter Mrs.Morrow in order to meet her psychological needs，like how well Ernest adapt himself in school，and how popular he is with his classmates so that unanimously elected as president of the class.Whats more，during his wandering in New York City，he proposes to Sally whom he dislikes in a hope of finding a person to go to the vast west with him.

Caulfield Realizes that he is somewhat affected by the value system he condemns，and even unconsciously uses this value system to deal with the people and things around sometimes，thats why Caulfield can not help admiring his younger brother Allie，whose death keeps him in the condition of forever innocent.Consequently，Caulfield hopes to preserve time in order to be another Allie.

2.Clinging to the Lost Innocence

Realizing his inability of dealing with the change on him，Caulfield hopes that he can be away from the passage of time.In order to be free from changes，he clings to his old ways of looking at things and people around him as well as his virginity

First of all，Caulfield takes Allies baseball mitt with him no mater where he goes.This baseball mitt with the poems by Allie will always remind Caulfield of their happy childhood.

In addition，he is such a bigot who stubbornly insists on his old thinking patterns，which he uses to judge the things，and people around.It is revealed at the very beginning of the novel through his cynic attitude towards all the things around，like his hatred to D.B.his disgust of Pencey Prep，and all of the classmates and teachers lacking of the characteristic of sincerity.

Finally and the most important is Caulfields sexual naiveté.Caulfield is curious about and scare of having sex with someone.Attracted by adult world，he is keenly to get sex experience，which is the reason why he accepts the advice to have a prostitute； however，as the prostitute getting ready，he is struggling with his desire of doing it and the fear of losing his virginity.At the last stage，he does nothing.In his mind，holding on virginity amounts to keep the eternal children world，that is to say，losing virginity means losing ones innocence，and the chance of staying in childrens world.

3.Modern “Jesus Christ”

In order to keep children from suffering his fate，Caulfield fantasizes himself to be the modern Jesus Christ.In Holy Bible，God sent Jesus Christ，his son to save the world from its darkness.Jesus Christ performed many miracles to convince the public that he was their savior.During Jesus visit of the Samaritan，he demonstrated many good deeds and even some miracle to make them believe in him，acclaiming him “the Savior of the world”.

Frustrated by the unsuccessful attempt of searching a savior，Caulfield does not believe that he can find a Jesus-like figure in the real world any more.Keenly aware of his awkward situation，Caulfield turns his eyes to children，like his younger sister Phoebe，with the hope of being their savior.In Gwynn and Blotners mind，Caulfield is a saintly Christian person，“Jesus and Caulfield truly love their neighbors，especially the poor in goods，appearance，and spirit”.Knowing he is kicked out by the Pencey，the first thing occurs to him is to say good-bye to old Spencer，his history teacher who always cares Caulfield a lot in a way which Caulfield does not like.Stradlater，his roommate and a sex bastard in Caulfields mind，is so self-centered that does not show normal concern to Caulfield.He even asks Caulfield to write a composition for him，after knowing Caulfield being kicked out of school.But Caulfield does not complain anything，and tries his best to achieve this task in a depressed mood，which like Jesus showing concern to the people equally including his enemy，trying to convey the love of God to everyone on the earth.

4.Modern “Eden of Garden”

For Caulfield，the ideal place is an Edenic place，the paradise of our ancestors Adam and Eve.In Holy Bible，the Garden of Eden is a place free from all kind of anxiety，suffering，and pain.Their ancestors Adam and Even enjoy their lives to the fullest extent there，and they are free from all the fetters.Their happy life lasts till being driven from the Garden of Eden for their loss- -the desire to be experienced.

Then can Caulfield find the Garden of Eden in real world？ Two-days wandering in New York City makes him realize that there is no place where children can avoid being polluted by adult world.He erases the profanity on the school and museum walls many times.Caulfield nearly flies into rage when he sees all the dirty words threatening the innocence he tries to protect.No matter how many times he erases those profanities，he can still find them.Finally，Caulfield has to admit that there is no Garden of Eden in the real world any more，“Thats the whole trouble.You cant even find a place thats nice and peaceful，because there is not any.You may think there is，but once you get there，when youre not looking，somebodyll sneak up and write ‘Fuck you right under your nose”.

Caulfield is stricken by Robert Burns poem “If a body catch a body comin through the rye”，picturing a big field of rye far away from adult world where only children live and play.Being the guide of the rye，Caulfield can protect childhood innocence from falling into the adult world，and avoid suffering the disillusionment in the process of growing up.

References：

[1]Craig R， Koester.“The Savior of the World” （John 4：42）.[J]Journal of Blilical Literature， Vol.109， No.4 （winter， 1990）， The Society of Biblical Literature.

[2]Heiserman， Arthur.& James E.Miller， Jr.“J.D.Salinger： Some Crazy Cliff.”[J]Western Humanities Review， Vol.X， No.2， spring， 1956， 129-137.

[3]Grunwald， Henry Anatole.ed.Salinger： A Critical and Personal Portrait.[C]New York： Pocket Books， 1963.

[4]Kegal， Charles H.“Incommunicability in Salingers ‘The Catcher in the Rye.”[J]Western Humannities Review 11 （1957）：188-190.

[5]塞林格，J.D.， 2008， 麥田的守望者：英漢對(duì)照（孫仲旭譯）[M].南京：譯林出版社.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：何微，女，1982.07，講師，碩士，單位：四川文理學(xué)院外國(guó)語學(xué)院。