Abstract:
 Jerome David Salinger, a famous Jewish writer in the history of contemporary American literature, published a novel titled The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, which is considered as one of the classic works in the 20th- century American literature. The protagnist, a 16-year-old high school student named Holden Caulfield, is believed to be the first anti-hero in the contemporary American literature and is greatly favored among the teenagers in USA as well as all over the world. Salinger tells a unique and touching story about Holden, who plays truant, leaves home and wanders in New York for about three days. The great novelist fully explores this teenager’s inner world by adopting the stream of consciousness technique.
Literary critics and scholars home and abroad have been taking great interest in studying The Catcher in the Rye since its publication and have achieved considerable progress. However, there are very few studies done from the perspective of initiation and almost none touches the topics such as juvenile education and future of human society. Though there are a few discussions on the character of Holden’s, they confine the investigation just into the causes of Holden’s character, short of enough analyses of the dynamic changes of Holden’s character. The present paper analyzes the process of Holden’s spiritual initiation, explores the true factors of his rebellion and reveals the specific things he wants to escape from. It is believed that it is the hardships Holden experiences on his way of escape that speeds up his epiphany. Having known the society as well as its complexity, he makes some compromises and finally achieves a spiritual growth. Through Holden’s initiation, the novelist aims to convey his humanistic concerns with the issue of juvenile education, necessity of man’s spiritual pursuit, future of human development and so on.

Key words: J. D. Salinger; The Catcher in the Rye; Holden; initiation

摘 要：

当代美国犹太作家杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格（1919-2010）于1951年发表的长篇小说《麦田里的守望者》使他一举成名，被列入二十世纪美国文学经典作品的范畴。小说的主人公，16岁的中学生霍尔顿·考尔菲德是当代美国文学中最早出现的反英雄形象，得到了青少年的普遍认同。塞林格将故事的起止时间局限于霍尔顿从离开学校到纽约游荡的三天时间内，并借鉴意识流天马行空的写作方法探索了一个少年的内心世界。
《麦田里的守望者》自出版以来，国内外评论家和学者从很多角度作过研究，并取得了长足的进步。有的学者从精神分析的角度剖折霍尔顿的孤独；也有人分析探讨了小说的异化主题，认为霍尔顿既是这异化社会的代言人，又是这异化社会的牺牲品；还有人认为霍尔顿历经矛盾、抗争，最终回到社会。尽管他付出了惨重的代价——精神崩溃，但他最终认清了人生成长的历程，适应了社会。然而，从成长的角度探析作者对青少年教育以及对人类社会发展的关心的研究却并不多见，也有个别针对霍尔顿性格进行的分析讨论，但仅局限于探讨霍尔顿性格的成因，缺少对霍尔顿性格变化历程的动态分析。本课题主要分析了霍尔顿的精神成长历程，探究其反抗的真正原因，揭示其所要逃避的具体内容，即学校教育、物质社会和人际关系，在反抗和逃离过程中经历的种种磨难让他渐渐获得人生的顿悟，在认识了社会的复杂性之后他作出了一定的妥协，实现了精神上的成长。最后揭示塞林格真正的创作意图：通过霍尔顿的成长经历，小说家表达了他对青少年教育、对人类精神追求和人类社会发展等重要问题的人文关怀。

关键词：塞林格；《麦田里的守望者》；霍尔顿；成长