Psychoanalytic Theory Vs. Salinger s The Catcher s The...

Sigmund Freud s psychoanalytic theory provided a basis for not only how, but why people act the way they do. One aspect of the theory argues that human behavior is a ramification of their adolescents in ways unaware to the subconscious, suggesting that â€Å"Unconscious forces in our personalities influence our motives and behaviors† (Nevid). Understanding Freud’s psychoanalytical theory helps provide an understanding the demeanor of Holden Caulfield, a young boy who is lost in his own world of isolation and adolescence, in J.D. Salinger s famous narrative. The Catcher in the Rye. Using first person to display behavioral actions with phrases such as, â€Å"...I’m not going to be a goddam surgeon or a violinist or anything anyway† (Salinger 39),†¦show more content†¦To emphasize Holden s bogus view old age, he continually refers to adults as â€Å"phoneys,† After Salinger returned home from WWll, he was hospitalized from a nervous breakdown according to biography.com. While the details of Salinger stay and treatment are still relatively unknown, it is known that he met women in the hospital by the name of Sylvia, who was possibly a former Nazi. This lead way to several more relationships that were short lived until he finally settled with a young nurse, Colleen O’Neill, until his death on January 27, 2010. Holden similarity share immature relationship with women. He jumps from dancing with a random women at a bar to conversating with a striper to having additional outbreaks with Jane about wanting to run away together and get married, similarly to how Salinger jumps from women to women. World War two played a huge role in not only Salinger but in his projection of Holden Caulfield. The opening chapter expresses this, as Holden tells his readers about the death of his younger brother, Allie. Throughout the story, Holden exhibits a constant state of anxiety, as he has constant flashbacks of his brother to help relieve the void of his disappearance. According to Stephen F. Davis, a psychologist from Morning College, these symptoms can be paralleled to a psychological disorder call â€Å"Post Traumatic