The catcher in the rye
An individual's life is full of traumatizing events that can twist and turn one's view of the world upside down unexpectedly. The protagonist in the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is introduced as an unstable young man who is full of emotional pain buried inside him but won't seem to let it out. "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life" (Salinger 16). Psychoanalysis theorist Sigmund Freud created the psychoanalytic theory that sets a base for Holden Caulfield’s thoughts and behaviors. Holden's character is portrayed as a seemingly ignorant trouble maker who's only apparent good virtue is Literature yet is failing his way out of a college prepatory school for wealthy kids. The narrative is in Holden's …show more content…
One of the major defense mechanisms known as Repression kicks in after a Traumatizing event in the conscious mind that is interfering with daily life is moved to the unconscious mind. This keeps unawareness of unwanted memories or ideas from coming back to haunt the conscious mind which may cause harm such as depression. Repression also, “... permits people to remain outwardly calm and controlled even though they harbor hateful or lustful urges under the surface of awareness” (Nevid 471). The repressed memories or desires although they are now in the unconscious mind might be brought back and revealed in different forms. One of these forms is tongue slips that reveal underlying motives or wishes that were previously repressed. This applies to Holden’s conscious mind where he says inappropriate things which the reader is exposed to. “ I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street; I thought I’d just go down down down and nobody's ever see me again… But i keep going; i was sort of afraid to stop, I think” ( Salinger 197). Unlike repression, regression is the return of behavior that is typical of earlier stages of development. Holden seems to enjoy going to the museum and look at all the aspects of the artifacts such as how a younger kid would enjoy this as well. He likes the fact that the artifacts are somewhat frozen in time and won't die out. “ things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" ( Salinger 122). Projection being another defense mechanism is the act of imposing one’s own impulses or wishes onto another person. Holden projects his desire to be happy watching Phoebe his younger sister be happy. "I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going
An individual's life is full of traumatizing events that can twist and turn one's view of the world upside down unexpectedly. The protagonist in the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger is introduced as an unstable young man who is full of emotional pain buried inside him but won't seem to let it out. "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life" (Salinger 16). Psychoanalysis theorist Sigmund Freud created the psychoanalytic theory that sets a base for Holden Caulfield’s thoughts and behaviors. Holden's character is portrayed as a seemingly ignorant trouble maker who's only apparent good virtue is Literature yet is failing his way out of a college prepatory school for wealthy kids. The narrative is in Holden's …show more content…
One of the major defense mechanisms known as Repression kicks in after a Traumatizing event in the conscious mind that is interfering with daily life is moved to the unconscious mind. This keeps unawareness of unwanted memories or ideas from coming back to haunt the conscious mind which may cause harm such as depression. Repression also, “... permits people to remain outwardly calm and controlled even though they harbor hateful or lustful urges under the surface of awareness” (Nevid 471). The repressed memories or desires although they are now in the unconscious mind might be brought back and revealed in different forms. One of these forms is tongue slips that reveal underlying motives or wishes that were previously repressed. This applies to Holden’s conscious mind where he says inappropriate things which the reader is exposed to. “ I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street; I thought I’d just go down down down and nobody's ever see me again… But i keep going; i was sort of afraid to stop, I think” ( Salinger 197). Unlike repression, regression is the return of behavior that is typical of earlier stages of development. Holden seems to enjoy going to the museum and look at all the aspects of the artifacts such as how a younger kid would enjoy this as well. He likes the fact that the artifacts are somewhat frozen in time and won't die out. “ things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" ( Salinger 122). Projection being another defense mechanism is the act of imposing one’s own impulses or wishes onto another person. Holden projects his desire to be happy watching Phoebe his younger sister be happy. "I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going