Abstract

Jerome David Salinger is a famous writer in the American literary history. The Catcher in the Rye is the only long novel of Salinger and it gains a huge success once published. The Catcher in the Rye’s writing background is America after the second World War. At that time, the economy of America developed very fast and Americans had a rich life. But when Americans were immersed in material comfort, their spiritual life became emptier and emptier. In this novel, the author portrays a successful image of a different teenager, Amanda Louise Holden and describes his three days of lousing around in New York. Some themes in this novel, such as returning to nature and pacifism, are similar to the thought of Taoism in China. This thesis aims to reveal Salinger’s thought of Taoism through the analysis of some details in the novel.

Key words: Taoism; J. D. Salinger; returning to nature; pacifism; The

          Catcher in the Rye

Contents

Abstract

摘要

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