Catcher in The Rye: Post Traumatic Stress

Catcher In The Rye: Post Traumatic Stress 

The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel which was written by Jerome David Salinger in 1951. The novel is Salinger's masterpiece and is considered one of the most controversial books in the contemporary literature of North-America (Frangedis, 1988). The novel portrays Salinger as a strange writer because of his ability to combine rebellious character and unusual manners in a story and still catch the attention of the audience leaving them moved by his work. His book is about the difficulties teenagers face when growing up. What makes it controversial is the way he seems to give his main character, who is a rebel, credit for his life, which many can view as a careless one. The novel was written during a time that teenagers and young people, in general, had no much say in the society. His novel encouraged teenagers to raise their voices and express themselves although it was criticized for promoting their rebellious behavior. His book, therefore, became one of the most loved at the same time hated work in America (Stephen, 1997). The Catcher in the Rye is considered to reflect much of the author's life who grew up having an exciting life, one sister whom he adored and no close relationship with his father. He was almost always polemic just as the main character in The Catcher in the Rye. 

The Catcher in the Rye story is mainly about a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, who experiences difficulties with his school and social life. The title of the book is from Caulfield's fantasy of being a sole guardian of thousands of children playing in a field with overgrown grass cover; rye located at the edge of a clip. He pictures himself as having the job of catching those children whenever they come close to falling over the hence the title "The Catcher in the Rye." Caulfield is living in an institution in New York City where he had put up to recover from some type of mental breakdown. He is from a wealthy family and attends the best schools in the city from which he keeps on getting kicked out because of his poor grades. Caulfield's relation with almost everyone seems to end up sour all the time. He gets into disagreements with his dorm mates in the institution and even fights one of them for going out with a girl his brother likes. Caulfield has a brother who is an author and a World War II veteran whom he hopes to live with after he comes back. His brother however never shows up in the story. Caulfield also has a sister whom he loves a lot and feels like she is the only person who understands him despite her being younger than him. He always feels that he owes her an explanation and a farewell when he decides to leave New York and heads out West to become a gas station attendant. However, when he goes to say goodbye to Phoebe, his sister, she demands to go with him. Caulfield cannot take his sister with him, and when she shows how much she does not want him to leave her, he decides to stay and join another school. 

Salinger's story is timeless. This is because it is about the challenges of teenagers that were experienced during the 1950s and are still experienced today. An adolescent will always have troubles in comprehending and following the rules of the society. Throughout the story, Caulfield keeps changing his mind about different things, and like many teenagers, he is hard to figure out. One psychological theory that can help figure out the teenager's thoughts and actions is Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This theory has four stages in the development of the structures of thought (Humphreys et al., 1985). The different stages are experienced at different ages. Piaget argues that children take an active role in the learning process and act like scientists trying to figure out things in life. They perform experiments, make observations and draw conclusions concerning life occurrences. The first of the life stages that Piaget comes up with is the Sensorimotor Stage which occurs between birth and two years of age whereby one learns through the primary senses of a human being. The second stage is the Preoperational stage which is experienced between two and seven years whereby children begin to learn through symbols, language and try to see things from the perspective of adults. Thirdly is the Concrete Operational Stage which is experienced between the age of seven and eleven years. The children here begin to think logically, from specific to general principles of occurrences. The final stage which starts at the age of twelve is Formal Operational Stage whereby an adolescent can think abstractly and is able to reason about hypothetical problems. Caulfield lies under the final stage. He is at a phase whereby he is beginning to reason from general principle to specific information. He portrays the ability to solve problems on his own and is able to compare different situations that might happen when he does something, and from that, he is able to make decisions without having to depend on anyone else to help him do so. Caulfield gets kicked out of school, and he comes up with a plan to escape the wrath of his parents. When he feels that New York City has no place for him, he decides to head west to begin a new life as a gas station attendant. When his sister asks him to take her with him, he obviously knows he cannot give the best life she deserves and decides that staying can be a better option for both of them. 

Another theory that is reflected in this novel is psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud. This theory believed that personality conflicts are developed among three structures of the human mind. This includes Id, superego, and ego. Caulfield is rebellious and an exhibitionist teenager. Using Freud's definition of ego, superego, and Id, one can come up with several conclusions about his behavior. In the novel, the superego is represented by the authorities such as in Caulfield's school as well as the society and its rules. Caulfield finds it hard to follow orders and fit in the social rules and regulations. As it is, according to Freud, superego represents morality principles, the repressing entities. It can be concluded that Caulfield main repressors are the society, authorities, and the rules in it. He feels like he lacks the freedom to do whatever he wants to because he has to submit to the rules of the society. At the beginning of the story, Caulfield makes known to the audience that he has been kicked out of school. In this case, the school works as a superego to get Caulfield to follow the rules. 

The superego also works as a repressor of the Id which is also part of the unconscious mind where the basic needs, desires, and feelings of many people exist. From these, one can perceive that Caulfield's deepest desire, his Id, is completely frustrated by the life he is living in New York. This is why he decides to leave the city and head west to settle and work as a gas station attendant. The Id is manifested in some of the decisions and attitudes of the main character. For instance, he decides to escape school to avoid the wrath of his parents after they find out he was expelled. Indeed, this act demonstrates his Id since he follows his impulses which lead him to do what he wants (Slinger, 2014). Another example to show Caulfield's Id is when he lies to most of the people he relates to throughout the novel. 

Caulfield displays his ego in the story too. There is a strong conflict between his Id and his ego because of his behavior to make sudden inconsistent decisions whereas his consciousness is aware of everyone and everything surrounding him (Erik, 1956). In spite of his rebellious behavior, he somehow comes up with reasonable decisions. The conscious part of his mind controls his bitter Id. For instance, when he decides to leave New York, he considers the consequences his sister will face as a result of his action. He therefore reconsiders and decides to stay and join another school. 

Another psychological theory that applies to the story of The Catcher of the Rye is Erik Erickson's theory of psychosocial development. The theory states that at different ages in life, the typical human is faced with crises whereby one has to choose between two issues. The decision one makes displays their personality and goes ahead to shape their psychosocial development. In the stages explained by Erik, Caulfield is most likely in the fifth, Fidelity, whereby the main conflict is between confusion and identity. This conflict presents the question of who the character is and where they are headed in life (Freud, 1961). Caulfield faces a hard time getting into terms with his identity. He doubts about going back to school as well as his parents' house. The doubtful situation is referred to as identity crisis by Erik. This situation marks the transition from simple thinking of childhood to that of adulthood whereby Caulfield wants to be more responsible. 

He gets into fights with his roommate who goes out with a girl who was Caulfield's childhood friend. Stradlater, Caulfield's roommate, refuses to tell him what went on during the date and this offends him since he feels he has the right to know. He wanders in New York City experiencing nights of depression in bars and clubs. He drinks a lot due to the feeling of lacking a purpose and belonging in life. This portrays him as a person who is undergoing identity crisis because sometimes he feels he is useless in the world but again figures out that he can start over in another city. 

References 

Erik, E. (1956). ‘The Problem of Ego Identity. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 4, 56-121 

Frangedis, H. (1988). Dealing With Controversial Elements in The Catcher in the Rye . The English Journal, 77 (7), 72-75 

Freud, S. (1961). The Resistances to Psychoanalysis. Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Freud , XIX, 1923-1925 

Humphrey, L, Rich, S., Davey, T. (1985). A Piagetian Test of General Intelligence. Development Psychology Journal , 21, 872-877 

Salinger, J., D. (2014). The Catcher in the Rye . New York: Sterling Pub Co. Inc. 

Stephen, W. (1997). Cherished and Cursed: Toward a Social History of The Catcher in the Rye. The New England Quarterly, 70 (4), 567-700