Catcher In The Rye Psychological Analysis Essay

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Life encounters an imagination that holds so much authority within you; you lose touch of reality. This belief occurs in the unconscious, where according to Understanding Psychology by Richard A. Kasschau, Ph.D., Sigmund Freuds theory defines:" the part of the mind that holds mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories of which we are unaware but that strongly influences conscious behaviors" (Kasschau 379). When life escalates with intense events, loneliness becomes a main factor that leads to abnormal actions and thoughts. In the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" J.D Salinger gives a perception to the protagonist; Holden Caulfields acts of virtues and frustrations that frequently alter.In
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The idea of growth makes Holden uncomfortable because it requires change. Change is to adapt to differences that alter your entire daily routines. The extensive change of Allies death is stored in his unconscious. Mike Majors concede in his book PsychSmart that Freud 's Psychoanalytic Theory states:" Failure to resolve conflicts at any stage can result in fixation” (Majors Chapter 10). However, Freud would explicate Holdens state of mind as being an iceberg; where traumatic feelings are stored in the unconscious, but still manage to find their way to the surface. Freud would relate his theory to why Holden is so upset when he returns to the museum he would visit as a child. Holden states:” The best thing though, in the museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move” (Salinger 121). Holden is against change because it is a factor that is not under his control. This topic contrives Holden to feel powerless just as he did when his brother Allie died. Nevertheless Freud’s Theory emphasizes the morality of the unconscious in Nevids Psychology:Concepts and Applications:” The contents of the unconscious cannot be brought directly into consciousness simply by focusing on them; they are brought into consciousness only with great difficulty” (Nevid 469). Holdens unconscious anamnesis still causes him to act the way he does even several years

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