2016 International Conference on Humanities Science, Management and Education Technology T(HSME 2016) ISBN: 978-1-60595-394-6 Creation of Emptiness and Hopelessness: A Close Reading of The Catcher in the Rye Fan Liu1,a, Yong-Zhi Liu2,b,* 1No.1, Dongsanlu, Erxianqiao, Chenghua District, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Chengdu University of Technology, 610059, Chengdu, P.R. China [email protected], [email protected] *Corresponding author Keywords: Emptiness; Hopelessness; the Catcher in the Rye; Jerome David Salinger; American Literature Abstract: Through a close reading of the text it is concluded that the symbolic description of the protagonist Holden's context, clothing, use of language , and psychological state plays a crucial role in the creation of the hopelessness and emptiness of American youth after WWⅡ who were psychologically paradoxical owing to the troubles they met and the loneliness they felt, and that dirty words in the text, once making the novel controversial, merely represent the youth’s hopelessness and emptiness. Introduction The novel The Catcher in the Rye was written by Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger, an American short story writer and novelist, whose life experiences were similar to those of the protagonist in the novel. The Catcher in the Rye is a success not only because it explores and artistically displays the psychology of post war American youth, but also because the unrestrained figure and empty mind of its main character strike a powerful and sympathetic chord among contemporary American adolescents. Many theses in a wide range of subject areas have examined the protagonist Holden Caulfield. From the point of view of psychology, G.S. Amur argues that Holden is thirsty for earthly paradise and love from others when he faces a spiritual crisis [1]. William Riggan contrasts The Catcher in the Rye with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, making comparisons between Holden and Huckleberry from the point of view of sociology [4]. Donald P. Costello affirms that the records of the language features of post war American youth in the novel are valuable to linguistic research [3]. How does the author use words to describe the unrestrained figure and vacant mind of Holden, and how does he convey an atmosphere of emptiness and confusion? Through a process of close reading, this thesis will analyze Salinger's creation of a sense of emptiness and hopelessness in The Catcher in the Rye through his use of symbolism. The Creation of Emptiness and Hopelessness How to use words to successfully convey the complex psychology of a character is a challenge many authors faced. In a literary work, symbols appear in the form of words, images, objects, settings, events, and characters, and are often used deliberately to reinforce the theme of the work. Symbols, however, imply different things to different people, and different cultures may react differently to the same symbols. Thus, symbols are usually categorized as either universal symbols or private symbols, depending on the source of the associations that provide their meanings [7]. Salinger uses many symbols throughout the novel, various colors, a red hunting hat, the cold winter, a cliff, for instance, which indirectly provide a description of the figure and psychology of protagonist Holden. In The Catcher in the Rye, settings, scenario, colors and characters are endowed with special symbolic significance and serve to create an atmosphere of emptiness and confusion, just like a black-and-white film, occasionally dotted with a few bright colors, thus constituting a unique 102 artistic writing style. Using close reading to analyze the text according to four main aspects: the protagonist Holden's living environment, clothing, style of speech, and psychological state, this paper discusses Salinger's creation of a sense of emptiness and hopelessness. Environmental Description Implying the Atmosphere of Emptiness and Hopelessness The story takes place in the three days before Christmas. The protagonist, Holden, has been expelled from Pencey Middle School and is left to roam the streets of New York. The weather is very cold: "it was cold as a witch's teat" [5, 9], "it was icy as hell and I damn near fell down"(ibid:3), "It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road"(ibid:3). The weather is a metaphor for American reality. After World War Ⅱ, Americans were numb and confused. What the war brought America was not stabbing pain, but the joy of victory and future prosperity. However, people lost their self-control in the face of such abundance substance. They lost their spiritual life and became alienated, like slaves. In post war America people lived in the wasteland of spirit, the relationships among people were cold and detached, and the spirits of people were as hollow and poor as the winter ground. In this strange and cold adult world, it was difficult for Holden, only sixteen to pursue truth, tender feelings and true love. At the end of the novel, he sees that in Phoebe's school and, even in the museum, "Somebody'd written "Fuck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy" (ibid: 108). So Holden thinks "I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I'd smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam dead and bloody"(ibid:108). But he also admits "I wouldn't have the guts to do it" (ibid: 108). Then he tries his best to wipe away these dirty words. Unexpectedly, he realizes "If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world. It's impossible" (ibid: 109). In another scene, children are running in a field of rye which lies on the edge of a cliff and they are in danger of falling off the cliff at any moment. Even though Holden, "The catcher in the rye", tries to save them from danger, all his efforts are in vain. Salinger uses the metaphor of "the cliff" to show readers that Holden and his contemporaries are confused and have lost themselves to the irresistible social force, and it is no use for them to try to escape. Children of sixteen inevitably grow up and become adults. It is no use for them to revolt and try to change society. There is no hope for them in pursuing something. When they step off the cliff, what is waiting for them is at bottomless chasm. Of course, there is no shelter for them either. With this subtext, The Catcher in the Rye, "has the dubious distinction of being at once the most frequently censored book across the nation and the second-most frequently taught novel in public schools"[2],. The frigid weather thus represents the cold and indifferent relationships between people and conveys this emptiness to readers. Salinger's intended meaning of the cliff is obviously a representation of the dangerous boundary between the world of children and of adults. The children playing with joy in the rye may cross the boundary at any time and fall into the chasm and die. If Salinger uses the "ducks" to represent Holden's personal difficulties, the "cliff" reflects the crisis of the whole of American society, a crisis which threatens millions of children. Garment Description Reflecting the Atmosphere of Emptiness and Hopelessness With regard to symbols involving clothing, one notable example is the use of Holden's hat. Whenever Holden puts on his hat, he is either around people he does not like or in an environment he is unfamiliar with. When Ackley is horsing around in Holden's dorm and interrupting his reading, he puts on the hat, so that he cannot see Ackley, who is a sort of "nasty guy". Wearing the hat, Holden says: "Mother Darling, everything's getting so dark in here…Mother darling, give me your hand. Why won't you give me your hand?"[5, 9] In general, "mother" is equivalent to warmth and safety. Holden lacks parental love. But he mentions "mother" here, indicating that he is longing for parental love and that he can only feel the warmth and care when wearing the hat. When he has a fight with Strad later and loses, his nose is "bleeding all over the place" (ibid: 25), and he starts looking for his hat. "Finally I found it. It was under the bed. I put it on and turned the old peak around the back, the way I liked it and I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror" (ibid: 25). He gets hurt in reality, so he decides to put on the hat to feel protected and comforted. Moreover, when he starts writing the composition for Ackley, he puts on this hat. Though Ackley is 103 a "nasty guy" (ibid: 11), Holden is still willing to help him; in other words, purity and innocence remain in him. Later when he is leaving school, he is "sort of crying" (ibid: 29); because he is lonely; and because the school has rejected him. Then he puts on his hat, letting go of his disappointment with the outside world. Therefore, the hat serves as a comfort and a spiritual shelter; he can find satisfaction in this hat, rather than in the world he lives in. He hides himself in the hat, in a world that he creates． Walking back to the hotel, he is alone, feeling freezing cold. He dons his hat, even putting the earlaps down in order to keep warm.